12/08/05

Return of the Brown Bear to Switzerland

 "After a 100-year hiatus, it seems that bears may be coming back to Switzerland. Well, at least one. This past summer, the first brown bear was sighted in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, the eastern most part of the country just shy of the border with Italy and Austria. For some, the return of the bear was marked with great excitement, for others, a sense of apprehension. It also raised a lot of questions. Where did it come from? Was it lost or just passing through? And more poignantly, is this a sign of more to come?!"

12/02/05

Grizzlies and Cutthroat

 "Munching on cutthroat trout used to be a lot easier for grizzly bears that hung around the fringes of Yellowstone Lake. Back in the days before predatory lake trout mysteriously showed up, bears in Yellowstone National Park had gamely plucked spawning Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the spring and early summer. But now that the protein-packed Yellowstone cutthroat trout is in serious decline - park officials said in a recent publication that it 'appears to be in peril' - fewer bears are feeding off the lake's tributaries."

12/01/05

Yellowstone delisting shifts recovery efforts north

 "The focus on recovering grizzly bear populations is moving north.

With the Yellowstone population of grizzlies on the verge of being removed from the federal threatened and endangered list, the folks charged with leading recovery efforts are looking to refocus on bears that call the northern Continental Divide ecosystem home.

On Wednesday, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee heard about the challenges it and a growing team of biologists and researchers will face in duplicating the success story now occurring in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

'The circumstances here are really quite different than they were in Yellowstone,' said Chris Smith of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Yellowstone population of grizzlies is the most studied population of bears in the world. An interagency team of researchers has published more than 178 studies on the population since 1974.

That's not the situation in northwest Montana, Smith said.

Researchers are in the midst of gathering information about the bears and their habitat, but there's still a lot to learn, he said.

Illegal killings are another major challenge facing the recovery effort.

'There are a lot more illegal killings in the NCDE than in Yellowstone,' said Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator. 'Some people are poisoning bears in the NCDE. There's no doubt about that.'

Last year, officials counted 10 grizzly bears that were killed illegally. So far this year, there have been 11.

'Illegal killings are just killing us,' Servheen said. 'A few unscrupulous people can spoil a whole lot of effort by a lot of people.'"

11/25/05

Group calls for rehabilitation of Bear 66 cub

 "A national animal protection organization is calling for the immediate removal of Bear 66’s cub from public view at the Calgary Zoo and efforts made to rehabilitate the nine-month-old animal back into the wild. And Zoocheck Canada, a 20-year-old charity that focuses on captive wild animal issues, says Parks Canada and the Alberta government need to develop policies to eliminate the possibility that grizzly bears end up in captivity.

'Wildlife is leaking out of the wild and ending up as displays in zoos,' said Zoocheck’s Julie Woodyer, who has been assessing animals in captivity for the last 15 years."

11/21/05

Researchers tag grizzlies in Wells Gray

 "Grizzly bear research continues in Wells Gray Park, even though a proposal to transplant several bears from the park to the North Cascades has not been approved, says Mike Rowden. The Wells Gray Park area supervisor was reporting at a meeting of the Wells Gray Park public advisory committee held last Monday evening in Clearwater. Five more grizzlies were captured and collared this September, he said. The bears were taken from the area north and west of Murtle Lake.

'They are finding a lot more bears than we would have thought ... which is good,' said Rowden. 'It's nice to know they're still out there. They're bears that people will never see, just because of their location.'

Three of those taken in September were young females that would be suitable for transplanting, if the proposal goes ahead. The other two were 500 pound males. The researchers hope that tracking the males might add to information regarding caribou predation, said Rowden."

11/17/05

Bearly speaking

 "The posters for the Northern Rockies Nature Forum listed a Tuesday, Nov. 15, event titled 'State of the Grizzly: Recovered or Reeling.' Those posters also listed three forum participants: Kate Kendall, U.S. Geological Service research biologist and leader of the Northern Divide Grizzly Project in Montana; Chris Servheen, Grizzly Bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Lee Metzgar, retired professor of wildlife biology at the University of Montana.

None of those people appeared on Tuesday's panel, perhaps saying more about the contentious state of the discourse on environmental issues than any panel discussion could.

The 'State of the Grizzly' panel began to unravel when Metzgar withdrew due to a personal conflict. The Forum's organizers, the Native Forest Network (NFN), substituted Brian Peck, grizzly recovery specialist for the Great Bear Foundation, and Doug Honnold, an attorney with Earthjustice, aiming for what NFN Director Matt Koehler calls 'a diversity of perspectives.'

Shortly after Kendall and Servheen learned of Honnold and Peck's addition to the panel, however, they withdrew. Kendall explains that she 'was not comfortable being involved in a discussion of the politics of bear conservation,' which the panel almost certainly would have turned out to be, since NFN had 'substituted a lawyer who is actively involved in litigating agencies about grizzly bears and a bear advocate.'

Servheen cites Honnold in particular in explaining his withdrawal, saying, 'I cannot be involved in any forum with any litigator who is suing the federal government,' adding 'that's what [Honnold] does.' Honnold agrees with that characterization, describing his job as 'suing the federal government, almost always involving national forests and endangered species.'

But Honnold still feels Servheen should have participated, saying 'Servheen's job is to be in the press all the time, and yet he's not willing to defend his views in a situation where someone can ask questions and challenge it.'"

11/17/05

Wyoming governor: Don't wait to delist grizzlies

 "Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he hopes there's no delay in removing Wyoming's grizzly bears from the federal endangered species list.

This week's announcement by the federal government that it intends to remove grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area from the list gives the state a chance to chart a positive future for the animals, Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal said he sees the grizzly bear at a crossroads in Wyoming. If the proposed federal rule announced this week becomes final and the grizzly is removed from the endangered species list, he said, the fear and hostility that he senses are currently building in the state will ease. He says that would benefit both the bears and the people who live with them.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton announced federal plans to remove the grizzly from the endangered species list Tuesday. She said they could be removed from the list as soon as next year but acknowledged that litigation from environmental groups could delay the move.

'If the delisting rule is challenged or is otherwise derailed, I am afraid the presently intensifying rate of bear-human conflict will only escalate,' Freudenthal said, 'leading to more fear, more hostility and, in the end, more bear and potentially more human mortality - a course which is nothing but counterproductive.'"

11/16/05

Backstory: On the trail of an icon

 "It seems clear from the start this is not going to be a simple hands-in-the-pocket hike in the woods. At least not for me. As we unload our backpacks on an aluminum-gray day, an elk hunter warns us of a grizzly bear lurking in the willows up the trail. It is feeding on a carcass and, as everyone in the group knows, a grizzly dining on elk meat doesn't like uninvited guests. The bear had lunged at a hunter on horseback earlier this morning.

It's no surprise that we're in the company of bears. I'm tagging along with Shannon Podruzny, an ecologist who studies grizzlies, and her team of researchers. They're heading into the woods to unlock more of the mysteries of one of the most fascinating and fearsome animals on earth. The idea is to study the grizzly's habitat, its diet and daybeds, but not to encounter the big bruins: The researchers don't like to disrupt the bears, nor, for that matter, their own actuarial tables."

11/16/05

Wyoming will have grizzly hunting; Idaho, Montana undecided

 "Wyoming game officials say they will institute the state's first grizzly bear hunting season in more than 30 years if the bear is removed from federal protection, but Idaho and Montana say it is too early to make such a decision.

The comments came after the Interior Department announced Tuesday it will propose that bears around Yellowstone National Park be removed from federal protection under the endangered species law. Officials said that grizzly population in the area has grown to an estimated 600 since the bears were put on the threatened species list in 1975.

The three states bordering Yellowstone all have management plans, approved by the federal government, that include provisions for hunting the bears if their populations rise above certain levels.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said after Tuesday's announcement that the state will use a grizzly hunting season -- Wyoming's first since 1973 -- to keep the population in check."

11/16/05

Milestones in Wyoming grizzly bear recovery

 "* 1903: Wyoming game and fish laws make it a misdemeanor to hunt, kill or trap grizzly bears on any national forest reserves in Wyoming, except during open game seasons.

* 1937: Grizzly bears are classified as game animals on most national forests and in the Black Hills, and as predators in the remainder of the state. The animal is later classified by the Game and Fish Commission as a 'trophy game animal' all across the state, with fixed hunting seasons and bag limits for grizzly bears.

* 1968: Harvest of grizzly bears within Wyoming by hunters occurs until 1968. During that time period, there were no restrictions on the hunter harvest of grizzly bears and no mandatory hunter reporting of harvested grizzly bears."

continued...

11/15/05

Interior Dept. proposes delisting Grizzlies

 "Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park will be removed from the endangered species list after 30 years of federal protection, the Department of Interior announced Tuesday."

11/14/05

Grizzly Bears in Tatra Mountains, Poland

 "Tourists hiking in Polish Tatra mountains may find themselves face to face with grizzly bear. These dangerous animals have not yet enter their dens to start hibernation. However, it does not mean that this year’s winter shall be mild, inform specialists from Tatra National Park.

There are about 15 grizzly bears living in Polish Tatra Mountains. Their dens, which provide protection and security during the winter months, are ready. Grizzlies usually enter the dens in October or November and stay there for five to six months."

11/13/05

A Grizzly Mystery in Montana

 "Who's killing the great bears of Montana?

Twenty-one grizzlies have been illegally killed here in northwest Montana in the past two years, a record pace for poaching since the bears were listed 30 years ago as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The rising death toll alarms federal law enforcement officials, as well as government biologists supervising the otherwise successful comeback of the big bears. And it comes at a delicate moment in the politics of environmentalism, with the Bush administration poised, despite the objections of many conservation groups, to remove grizzlies farther south in Yellowstone National Park from the endangered species list.

The spike in grizzly killing is concentrated here in a rapidly growing, spectacularly scenic but culturally disjointed corner of the West. Affluent outsiders have overrun Flathead County in the past 15 years, fueling 37 percent population growth and creating a service-based economy that needs grizzlies as toothsome symbols of an eco-friendly western lifestyle.

Some longtime residents, though, are seething over a decades-long regional decline in logging and mining. They see protection of the bears as part of a loathsome New World Order that is closing roads in federal forests and marginalizing their lives.

'The government's doggedness in protecting the grizzlies has brought on tremendous polarization and anger in our community,' said Fred Hodgeboom, president of Montanans for Multiple Use, a local group that advocates increased logging, mining and grazing on federal land.

As for who is killing the grizzlies, investigators say they are making little or no progress in their search for suspects or witnesses."

11/13/05

Opinion: The latest predator-control initiative idea isn't good for Alaska

 "So, the sponsors of this initiative are artists more interested in ethics, photographic and literary exploitation of Alaska's wildlife, and promoting ecotourism than in management of wolves and bears to benefit those Alaskans dependent on game for food. These aren't traditional Alaska values and shouldn't become Alaska law.

Wayne E. Heimer is a retired biologist of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game."

11/11/05

Fed Move Could Lead to Grizzly Bear Hunts

 "Grizzly bears in areas surrounding Yellowstone National Park would be removed from the endangered species list under a proposal to be announced next week, officials said Thursday.

The Interior Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment on the proposal, but a congressional official and a state government official who were each informed of the announcement confirmed the government's plan. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal has not yet been made public.

Mike Volesky, a policy adviser to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, said an announcement on grizzly bears was planned, but he did not have details.

Federal wildlife officials estimate that more than 600 grizzly bears live in the region surrounding Yellowstone in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Those numbers represent a significant recovery. Only 200 or 250 grizzlies were in that region in 1975, when grizzly bears in the lower 48 states were listed under the Endangered Species Act.

If the grizzlies are removed from the list, the three states would assume management responsibilities from federal wildlife officials and have greater flexibility in dealing with bears. Stripping the bears of protection could eventually clear the way for hunting of grizzlies in that region.

If adopted, the proposal would apply only to bears outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Bears within the parks would remain federally protected.

Once the proposal is announced, there would be a period of public comment, and it could be months before a final decision is made. A possible court battle could also delay efforts to remove federal protections."

11/11/05

Execs try to boost mine plan image

 "On Sunday, Revett advertised in Montana newspapers, ads that not only rebutted charges the mine poses a risk to grizzly bears but said the mine stands to produce some benefits for the bears, which are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. The mining plan includes $18 million in bear conservation measures.

'I think it's absurd for anybody to think that mining is good for grizzly bears,' Mary Mitchell of the Rock Creek Alliance, a leading opponent of the mine, said Wednesday.

'I think people are going to see this for what it is: a PR blitz,' Mitchell said from Sandpoint, Idaho."

11/11/05

Feds to propose delisting grizzly next week

 "The federal government is planning next week to propose removing federal protections for grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, sources said Thursday.

Tom France, a regional director for the National Wildlife Federation, said an announcement is scheduled Tuesday in Washington, D.C. A spokesman for the Interior Department and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined late Thursday to confirm whether such an announcement is scheduled.

However, a congressional source and a state government source in Wyoming, who both spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the announcement.

France said government representatives from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were scheduled to be on hand, along with the Interior secretary and a member of the National Wildlife Federation."

11/11/05

Court rules timber sale in grizzly habitat can proceed

 "A federal appeals court has ruled the U.S. Forest Service can proceed with a controversial timber sale near Gardiner.

The Darroch Eagle sale has been in and out of court for almost six years. This week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that it can be harvested.

The court ruled against three environmental groups trying to halt the project. They are the Gardiner-based Bear Creek Council and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Ecology Center, both based in Missoula.

The groups had argued that the harvest of 2.9 million board feet on 195 acres in the Jardine area would harm grizzly bear habitat and that the Forest Service used 'arbitrary and capricious' methods in its accounting and its calculations of old growth.

They also argued that the timber shouldn't have been sold before the legal case was solved.

The Forest Service sold the logs to RY Lumber for $840,000.

The court sided with the Forest Service on all counts."

11/10/05

Fuel reduction program approved in Gallatin

 "Michael Garrity, the Alliance's executive director, said Wednesday his group hasn't decided whether to take its case to federal court.

'Now we have to talk to our attorney,' he said.

Garrity maintains the proposal violates the Endangered Species Act by harming grizzly bear and lynx habitat. He said it also violates rules that ban logging within a quarter mile of the river and will cost more than the Forest Service says it will."

11/10/05

Illegal Killing of GrizzliesThreatens Hunting

 "A few days ago, back on November 4 at a meeting in Kalispell, Servheen told a group of bear experts that despite increased educational and enforcement efforts, illegal killing is still 'the biggest problem' and mortality keeps going up. 'We are deeply concerned,' Servheen said. This means, in essence, that illegal killings could prevent recovery and keep the big bear on the threatened species list for a long time, but for hunters, it could get worse, much worse.

So far in 2005, the so-called Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (Glacier Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and surrounding lands) has had 11 illegal kills, which are grizzlies mistaken for black bears or simply shot by poachers, plus one bear killed in 'self-defense.'"

11/8/05

Group targets airborne hunting

 "Offering a rare public opinion on one of Alaska's hottest issues, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game commissioner announced he opposes an effort to create a ballot measure banning airborne hunters from shooting wolves and bears.

McKie Campbell called the petition from Alaskans for Wildlife a veiled attempt to limit state predator control efforts with language that would likely end up in court.

'We were just concerned because it's an initiative that I think would have impacts that you don't realize when you are first reading it,' Campbell said.

Phrases such as 'biological emergency,' 'feasible solution' and 'irreversible decline' all raise flags for Campbell. He said they are 'undefined and just would guarantee a lengthy debate in court, at the very least.'

The initiative's backers said Campbell's interpretation of their proposed law was wide of the target. A provision specifically allows the Alaska Board of Game to authorize a predator control program, but said any airborne shooting should be conducted by state employees and not private hunters.

The current plan calls for Fish and Game to issue permits to private hunter-pilot teams. More than 400 wolves have been killed since 2003 in five areas around the state where officials say wolves and bears have caused declines in local moose populations. The state recently announced applications for the 2005-06 wolf control efforts are available.

'It gives hunters a black eye,' said Nick Jans, a well-known Alaska writer from Juneau. 'It gives Alaska a black eye.'

Jans said the group is especially concerned about future efforts to cull brown bears. While there is no current plan to shoot bears from aircraft, research has shown bears have as much or more to do with moose predation than wolves.

Biologists relocated nearly 120 bears from the McGrath area during the 2003 and 2004 summers to see the effect on the local ungulate population. Campbell said the Board of Game has also allowed an increase in brown bear hunting where predation is an issue. For instance, in some areas of the Interior, hunters can now bait grizzlies.

Alaskans for Wildlife don't want managers to take that next easy step to shooting bears from airplanes.

'I think plenty of Alaskans will start to squawk if we start letting hunters shoot bears from airplanes,' Jans said."

11/8/05

Bringing Back the California Grizzly

 "So the California grizzly has gone from being a complex of seven species to a local population of a subspecies—maybe not even what would be considered an Evolutionary Significant Unit; no sturdier or more golden than other North American bears. Which means that Yellowstone or Glacier Park bears would make fine surrogates, if anyone is interested in bringing some in to, say, the Hamilton Range or the Carrizo Plain. Never mind the Great Plains: re-wilding begins at home."

11/7/05

Wyoming seeks to assume grizzly management

 "Wyoming wildlife officials are moving forward with plans to take over management of the grizzly bears in the state from the federal government.

Both state and federal officials say the grizzly bear population has reached the point that federal protections can be dropped and the state can take over management of bears outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Monday and Tuesday this week is scheduled to hear from wildlife managers on the issue of delisting the grizzly bear.The commission is meeting in Gillette.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are scheduled to address the commission on the status of delisting the grizzly bear."

11/4/05

Hunters kill last female bear native to Pyrenees

 "The might of the French State was deployed yesterday to find and save a bear cub after hunters killed its mother, the last native she-bear in the Pyrenees.

As gendarmes and wildlife officials sealed off a wide zone in the Aspe Valley near the Spanish border in the western Pyrenees, President Chirac joined the outcry over the death of Cannelle (Cinnamon), the 15-year-old mother shot at close range when she apparently charged a group of boar-hunters.

'The animal’s death is a great loss for biodiversity,' M Chirac told the weekly Cabinet meeting. Serge Lepeltier, the Environment Minister, called the killing an 'ecological disaster'.

The ten-month-old cub ran from its mother’s side when she was shot and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Philippe Grégoire, the Prefect (governor) of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, ordered extraordinary measures to ensure the cub’s survival in the wild, including a ban on hunting and dog-walking in the Aspe area.

'The big problem is the destiny of the cub. It is our duty to guarantee his survival,' M Gregoire said. 'The cub is not tiny. There is abundant food where he lives. He will not be captured and must be left alone. If he is not disturbed, he has a serious chance of survival.'

Cannelle was the last surviving female bear of indigenous stock. There are believed to be two indigenous males among the 15 to 18 other bears in the French Pyrenees.

These are mainly animals or their descendants imported from Slovenia and Croatia in the 1990s in a campaign to restore what used to be a thriving brown bear population in the mountains."

11/4/05

11 grizzlies illegally killed in northwestern Montana

 "Federal officials plan to announce a substantial reward for people who provide information leading to the arrest of those responsible for killing grizzly bears after 11 bears were illegally killed in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem this year.

The 2005 tally of 11 illegal kills is the highest in seven years and accounted for nearly half the 24 documented grizzly bear deaths so far this year, said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

'We're on the verge of going out with a big reward for illegal kills,' Servheen said. 'This illegal mortality is something that is very serious.'

Servheen said the reward announcement will come next week. There is no set reward now, but game wardens have discretion to give rewards in grizzly death investigations.

Servheen provided an accounting of the 2005 mortality statistics Tuesday to a panel of state and federal officials in charge of grizzly bear recovery in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem -- an area that includes Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and surrounding lands.

Servheen said this year's total of known human-caused bear deaths also includes seven that were destroyed by bear managers because of conflicts with people; four that died due to management handling; one killed in self-defense and one killed by a car.

Ten of the bears were female and eight of those were adults. Servheen said that is very disturbing, because the trend of the population is directly correlated to the number of adult females."

11/2/05

Hunter shoots, kills grizzly bear near Augusta

 "An out-of-state hunter was charged by a grizzly bear last week and shot it at only 15 paces away.

State and federal officials won’t release many details on the incident, saying it’s still under investigation.

However, Tom Flowers, a game warden with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, did provide a brief outline of what had happened.

Flowers said that the hunter was with a guide in the Scapegoat Wilderness, near Halfmoon Creek west of Augusta, when the hunter was charged by an adult male grizzly.

'The hunter shot the bear at 15 paces with a .300 Weatherby magnum rifle,' Flowers said.

He declined to comment further, saying that the case was turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which investigates the deaths of all grizzly bears. "

11/1/05

Grizzly workshop breeds optimism

 "Closed-door meetings to discuss co-operation on grizzly bear management have at least some participants seeing a brighter future for the Bow Valley.

The second workshop in the series ran last week in Banff, and the discussion it generated is prompting a little optimism among organizations sometimes seen as being on opposite ends of bear policy.

The latest two-day workshop, which was held at the Banff YWCA on Thursday and Friday, drew praise from organizations such as Defenders of Wildlife Canada and the Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment.

The workshops, spearheaded by Parks Canada, had Defenders of Wildlife Canada executive director Jim Pissot sounding genuinely enthusiastic Monday.

Pissot called the closed-to-the-public workshops a good news story for the Bow Valley.

'I think the spirit of listening and identifying some mutual goals around the table has been quite impressive,' said Pissot.

The past summer was a tough one for agencies involved in grizzly management. Two grizzlies, including Bear 66, a female grizzly with three young cubs, died on railway tracks in Banff National Park.

Two of Bear 66’s cubs were subsequently killed while trying to cross the Trans-Canada Highway. The surviving cub is now in the Calgary Zoo.

To the southeast in Canmore, a young male grizzly was shot to death after attacking and killing Canmore resident Isabelle Dubé. Two grizzly maulings in Banff National Park also led to serious injuries for a Calgary man and a female artist who was staying at the Banff Centre. The record of human-bear conflict in 2005 has not been a promising one."

10/28/05

You can avoid a bear attack

 "After a recent attack in Bella Coola caused by a habituated grizzly bear, Williams Lake residents are putting themselves in a position to create a similarly dangerous situation, says Bear Aware Program Delivery Specialist Caroline Morgan.

Residents in a North Lakeside subdivision of Williams Lake have been unintentionally attracting a female bear with cubs. This is an opportunity for Williams Lake residents to learn from the misfortunate incident in another community and to prove that they can act responsibly while living in bear country.

On Wednesday, October 19, a 74-year-old man was attacked by a grizzly bear in Hagensborg in the Bella Coola valley. This bear had been wandering around the community with three other grizzlies for some time and had become food-conditioned and habituated. Owners of apple trees appear to be the culprits in Bella Coola, luring the bears into town at a time when they are searching for easy, high calorie foods. Bears are fattening up for the winter denning period. These Bella Coola bears were particularly dangerous for a few reasons.

Bears will defend three things: a valuable food source, personal space, and in the case of a sow, cubs. Since people in the Bella Coola valley were leaving out unnatural foods, it created the potential for these bears to defend these foods from people. Because these bears had become habituated, they were frequenting the community more often than a normal wild bear would. The amount of time they were near people greatly increased the chance that a person would enter the bears' personal space and provoke an attack. Grizzly bears are also known to defend their cubs aggressively.

Originally, these bears were thought to be a family of bears: a mother with three cubs. It is rare for male grizzlies to tolerate each other. The grizzly attack in Bella Coola could have been avoided. It would have required a collective effort on the part of residents to remove all wildlife attractants from their properties. By removing unnatural attractants, a community gives a bear no reason to stick around and become human habituated or to associate people with an easy meal of apples or garbage."

10/28/05

Outfitter wants bear rules relaxed

 "An outfitter is trying to persuade the U.S. Forest Service to rescind or relax rules requiring backcountry users in this area to keep food away from bears.

Allen Schallenberger calls the rules unreasonable and contends they are being pushed by a radical environmental agenda intended to drive people off public lands.

'They've gone overboard on these rules, it's just ridiculous,' Schallenberger said. 'It doesn't make sense when you have such few bears.'

The requirements took effect last year in the Gravelly, Tobacco Root and Snowcrest mountains of southwestern Montana. Biologists were documenting an increasing number of grizzly bears in the Gravelly and Snowcrest mountains, and the animals will only get in trouble if they come in contact with food intended for humans, said Jack de Golia, spokesman for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The Tobacco Roots aren't considered grizzly habitat, but have a healthy population of black bears.

De Golia said the rules are intended to protect not only bears, but humans, and he notes that similar rules have been in place in the Madison Range since 1987 and are not uncommon on other federal lands frequented by bears.

'They're not particularly burdensome,' de Golia said. 'To me they're common sense - you don't want your food or your carcass to draw bears into your tent.'

The rules, among other things, require backcountry users to store food in trees or use bear-proof containers. Hunters are also required to move their game meat away from gut piles, hang the meat when it's in camp, or keep it at least half a mile from camp or 200 yards from trails."

10/27/05

Rash of grizzly deaths ends promising trend

 "A recent rash of grizzly bear deaths has driven the mortality toll for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem closer to last year's unprecedented mark and erased a promising trend in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery area.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Wednesday reported two grizzly bear deaths in the Flathead Valley, along with two grizzly deaths in the Yaak and another at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountains.

The Flathead bears raise the tally for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to 24 human-caused deaths this year, compared to last year's record 31 bear deaths, said Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery coordinator.

No known grizzly bear mortalities have occurred in the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area for the past two years. That changed with a biologist's discovery of a dead bear with a radio collar in the Yaak, another dead bear that was reported by a Yaak landowner, and the discovery of a female grizzly that had been killed by a train in the Noxon area, at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountains.

Servheen and state officials are not discussing details of the Yaak bear deaths, which are under investigation. But they are considered significant losses, because the government estimates there are fewer than 40 grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area.

State officials also did not release details on a grizzly bear that recently was 'killed on the east side of the Flathead Valley,' other than saying that 'a landowner reported this mortality.'

Wardens and wildlife managers could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The press release said that an adult female grizzly bear recently was found dead by biologists in the North Fork Flathead drainage."

10/27/05

Two plead not guilty in grizzly cub death, third sentenced for killing adult grizzly

 "Two men accused of killing a grizzly bear cub near Island Park three years ago pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Tim L. Brown of Island Park and Brad Hoopes of St. Anthony are scheduled to stand trial on the misdemeanor charge in U.S. District Court in Pocatello on Dec. 5, said Jean McNeil, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.

In a separate case, Dan Walters, a bow hunter from Kentucky, has been ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution for killing the grizzly cub's mother. Walters, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor in January, also had his hunting privileges revoked for two years.

Grizzly bears are threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, making it illegal to kill the animals.

Scott Bragonier, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Walters told investigators that he was hunting alone when he spotted the adult female grizzly and the yearling cub and mistook them for black bears. Walters shot the adult animal with his bow and arrow, and then tracked it until evening.

The next day, Bragonier said, Walters allegedly returned with Brown, Hoopes and another man and the four discovered the adult grizzly, dead from the arrow wound.

'It was at that time that they positively identified the bears as being grizzly bears,' Bragonier said.

Hoopes and Brown allegedly destroyed the adult grizzly's radio collar and tracked the cub, a yearling female, and killed it as well, Bragonier said.

Other archery hunters in the area found the dead bears, he said, and notified authorities. Even without its mother, the cub was old enough to have survived on its own, he said."

10/27/05

Coal mine plans in grizzly country

 "A Canadian mining company plans to apply for a permit by the end of next month to establish a coal mine in the northern reaches of Montana's Flathead River system.

Cline Mining Corp. confirmed its intention at a meeting in Fernie, British Columbia, last week to pursue a small-mine permit to extract up to 250,000 tons of coking coal each year from the site in the Foisey Creek basin.The company has said production would eventually expand to 2 million tons annually, and plans to begin development on the mine next spring.

The confirmation drew rapid opposition on both sides of the border.

Environmental groups the Flathead Coalition, based in Montana's Flathead Valley, and Wildsight in Canada urged British Columbia officials to deny the permit.

The company clearly intends to build a large mine, making application for a small-mine permit inappropriate, said David Thomas of Fernie, a Flathead Coalition board member and Fernie City Council member."

"'This mine in Foisey Creek would have a huge impact on the local environment and on local recreation businesses and real estate markets,' he said. 'It is a major project that should trigger full government and public review under the Environmental Assessment Act.'

British Columbia officials have said they have the authority to deny a small-mine permit and require an environmental assessment and full public review of the project.

Officials at nearby Glacier National Park said they planned to weigh in on mining in the area.

'We're certainly very concerned about transboundary impacts on water and fisheries,' said Brace Hayden, Glacier's regional issues specialist. 'We know a lot about the importance of that area to elk, grizzly bears and moose. We know it's a very productive area, and we are certainly going to be involved.'

The location of the proposed mine is an area that has been under dispute by the United States and Canada for decades, since coal mining was first proposed there in the late 1970s. Downstream interests have long worried that industrial pollution could taint pristine Montana waters."

10/26/05

Wind Valley closed because of grizzly

 "A large grizzly bear feeding on an elk carcass in the Wind Valley has forced conservation officers to close the area to human use.

'Last week some hunters were walking through the West Wind Valley and they saw a grizzly bear,' said Glenn Naylor, district conservation officer with Parks and Protected Areas.

'They noticed very quickly that it was feeding on something. They left the area immediately.'

Officers investigated the area on Wednesday of last week. 'We went in and found the bear,' Naylor said. 'It was a large grizzly. We think it’s number 96, an old male grizzly but we don’t know for sure, because 96 dropped his GPS collar this summer.'

The bear is lucky to have the carcass to fatten up on before he goes down for hibernation, Naylor said. He does not know if the bear killed the elk or found the dead carcass.

'To get an elk at this time of year is very good for the bear,' Naylor said.

The West Wind Valley and Wind Ridge areas are closed."

10/26/05

GNP's chief of science/resource management worried about ‘unprecedented' outside influences

 " Grizzly bears hanging way too close to humans and campgrounds. Exotic fish threatening to wipe out native populations. An explosion of clover that looks harmless enough, but could put the kibosh on native plants. And the threat of Canadian mines upstream from your pristine border.

It's just another day at the office for Jack Potter, chief of science and resource management at the park.

And those are just some of the problems Glacier faces as the 21st Century gets rolling. The rocks in the Park may be a billion years old, but some of the things happening both inside and outside its borders could change it forever.

Outside the Park, Potter is especially worried about full-scale industrial development north of the border. Canadian mine interests have proposed a variety of projects in the British Columbian side of the North Fork of the Flathead. Cline Mining Corp. is going ahead with plans for a coal mine in Foisey Creek, a tributary to the North Fork, a gold mine has been proposed for the Cabin Creek area, other coal mining projects are also proposed in the drainage and coal bed methane leases are waiting the wings as well.

On top of that, there are plans to make Highway 3 in Canada a four-lane road, which could cut off wildlife migration corridors between Glacier and the rest of the Canadian Rockies.

But it doesn't end there. There is still concern about energy exploration south of Glacier in the Hall Creek area as well as the Rocky Mountain Front."

"In addition, the Flathead has seen a human growth explosion, with a new subdivision added almost every week.

It used to be when the huckleberry crop in Glacier went bad, the bears would head into the relatively undeveloped valleys for food.

Now they end up in someone's backyard or porch.

This all worries Potter, whose job it is to protect Glacier's natural resources to the extent that it's possible.

'I think it's unprecedented that so many things are going on outside our boundaries,' Potter said in an interview last week.

Things aren't exactly rosy on several fronts inside the Park, either. Areas persist with noxious weed invasions. Of particular concern is spotted knapweed, leafy spurge and orange hawkweed. There's is also clover.

After the fires of 2003, clover has sprouted up in several park locations, in some cases blanketed huge areas. Clover can provide a food source for a variety of animals. But it's not a native, Potter noted, and it could become a problem if it continues to spread at the expense of native grasses and plants.

Things aren't too great on the fish front, either.

Native bull trout are either threatened or nearly wiped out by non-native lake trout that have invaded their habitat. Lake trout also prey on native cutthroats as well.

And then there are bears. The Park is also challenged with future grizzly bear management plans."

10/26/05

Handling grizzlies: How much is enough?

 "Grizzly bear researchers begin with a ripe deer or elk carcass, a lure that's hard for any bear to resist. Once the animal takes the bait, it's snared by a front paw or caught in a culvert trap, and then tranquilized. Sometimes it's shot with a tranquilizer dart from a tree stand.

Once the bear is unconscious, researchers may slip an oxygen tube up its nose to help it breathe, and dab salve in its eyes to keep them moist. Then they take the bear's temperature, clamp a microchip on its ear, and fasten a radio collar around its neck. They clip a swatch of hair, and measure body weight, total length, paw dimensions and fat level. Sometimes they pull a tooth to determine the animal's age.

Then they back off, while the bear wakes up, shakes off its hangover and ambles away.

A typical capture and collaring takes less than an hour. But it's a difficult experience, and an increasing number of grizzlies have to endure it. Federal and state scientists have ramped up their efforts to monitor the animals, trying to determine whether the West's two biggest grizzly populations deserve continued protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Some environmentalists question whether these intrusive monitoring efforts are really necessary. Researchers should show 'restraint' when deciding how many bears to collar, says Doug Peacock, author of Grizzly Years, a chronicle of more than a decade of his backcountry observations of grizzlies. 'The bears are already bothered enough (by people intruding into their habitat),' Peacock says. 'I'm not saying this isn't a valid course of science, just that we ought to give the bears all the breaks we can.'"

10/24/05

Scientists Use New Tools to Read Stress Effects on Grizzly

 "Alberta scientists will study the effect of stress on the reproductive habits of grizzly bears in a two-year, $2-million study jointly funded by the provincial government and industry.

'We're going to be looking for early warning signs that might indicate whether grizzly bears are chronically stressed,' said project head Gordon Stenhouse.

'There's pretty strong evidence to suggest that a rapidly changing environment can have a major impact on the health of an animal. With all of the development that is going on in the province, we really don't know how far we can push the landscape before it seriously affects our bears.'

Stenhouse and other bear biologists recently discovered that human activity may bother some bears enough for them to delay reproducing.

Bears around Jasper, for example, are producing offspring at much earlier ages than bears in the more highly populated area around Banff and Canmore.

'Up in the Jasper and Hinton area, where there is far less human activity, grizzly bears are having twins after four years,' said Stenhouse.

'Down in Banff and Canmore, some bears aren't reproducing until they are nine years old.'

Stenhouse will send bear blood and tissue samples to research labs at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Scientists there will use proteomics - the large-scale study of proteins - to measure for signs of stress and overall health.

Proteomics is widely regarded as the next step in human medical research. Depending on the kind of environmental stresses put on a human or animal, the amount of protein found in a cell can radically change in different parts of the body.

Between 25 and 40 bears will be captured each year for the next two and possibly three years. Stenhouse hopes to have grizzlies from all regions where there are bear populations."

10/24/05

Four grizzlies shot in Bella Coola Valley

 "Conservation officers have trapped and shot a group of four grizzly bears that terrorized residents of the Bella Coola Valley last week -- capturing the animals less than 100 metres from the site where a 74-year-old man was mauled.

All four bears were male, surprising officials who had believed they were dealing with a sow and her offspring. And a senior wildlife official said he was also taken aback by the fact that the animals lingered in the area where Jack Turner was mauled just a day before.

'They're not scared of people; the opposite is true,' said Doug Gillett, a manager with the Conservation Officer Service.

Mr. Turner is undergoing skin-graft operations at Vancouver General Hospital after losing his left ear and a large piece of scalp in the attack, which occurred Wednesday evening as he walked to his daughter's house to feed her dog.

The site of that attack is full of apple trees, with ripe and fallen fruit, an attractive food source for the bears, Mr. Gillett said.

The four grizzlies were trapped within a three-hour span on Thursday evening and shot rather than being relocated. Mr. Gillett said their aggressiveness accounted in a major way for that decision, noting that one of the bears charged a bicyclist the morning after Mr. Turner was attacked."

10/21/05

Grizzly bear mauls 74-year-old B.C. man

 "An elderly man has been flown to hospital in Vancouver with serious head injuries after being attacked by a grizzly bear near Bella Coola on B.C.'s Central Coast.

Conservation officer Doug Gillett says the 74-year-old man was mauled by a female bear while walking through a rural property on Wednesday night.

He said there were four bears in the area at the time: a sow and her three older offspring.

Gillett said the injured man isn't the only one who's encountered the bears in the past day.

'We've been able to confirm at least four incidents where these bears have charged people, starting yesterday afternoon,' he said Thursday. 'And as late as 7:30 this morning, they were charging people, and that was after the attack.'"

10/21/05

Bear #66's cub checks out holding cell

 "A grizzly bear cub, orphaned when his mother was struck and killed by a train near Banff, will now only ever know life behind a cage in captivity. Parks Canada has ruled out returning the nine-month-old bear to the wild because the young cub is highly habituated to people, but the Calgary Zoo this week agreed to extend his stay a little longer. The cub was put in the 100-metre by 80-metre black bear enclosure Tuesday (Oct. 18) where he will stay until the spring, at which point officials hope to have found him a permanent home."

10/16/05

Elk hunter survives grizzly encounter

 "Gary Kramer, 47, was hunting elk on Pacific Creek in the Teton Range late last month when he heard an 'explosion of noise' from the trees and saw a huge grizzly charging straight at him. 'I can't fully describe the feeling I had,' Kramer told the Buffalo Bulletin. 'I raised my rifle and yelled at the top of my lungs.' The bear stopped its charge 15 feet from him and moved to the side, but kept staring intently. Kramer backed away down an incline and out of sight. The bear suddenly gave a loud roar and charged at Kramer again, stopping less than 10 feet from him. 'It came over the incline so fast I couldn't believe it,' he said. 'It was absolutely terrifying. I was so close I could almost reach out and touch it.' The bear changed its mind and went back over the bank, and Kramer was able to return to camp without further incident. If the bear was trying to scare Kramer away from its territory, it worked. Kramer doubts he will ever return to the area and now will probably hunt in the Big Horns, which is not a part of grizzly habitat."

10/14/05

Update on Bear #66's cub

 "The last surviving member of Bear 66's family is gaining weight and settling well in his new surroundings at the Calgary Zoo. Media relations spokesperson Trish Exton-Parder said last week that the nine-month-old cub has adapted fine.

'He's not agitated, he's not stressed or nervous. He's eating well and adjusting well, and has adapted fine to his new surroundings,' said Exton Parder, adding the small bear has gained three to four kilograms in the month since he arrived at the zoo.

The cub, orphaned when his famous mother was struck and killed by a train on Aug. 19, was taken to the zoo Sept. 9, two days after his two siblings were struck and killed by vehicles on the Trans-Canada Highway."

10/14/05

Coram grizzly cubs headed to Indiana zoo

 "The surviving cubs of a grizzly bear that was put down by wildlife managers in the Coram area last week are destined for a zoo in Indiana.

Zoo placements can be difficult to arrange, but not in this case, said Tim Manley, the grizzly bear management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Kalispell area.

The two female cubs-of-the-year were accepted by the Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City, Ind.

The zoo has a bear facility that was occupied for years by Alaskan brown bears that recently died of old age, said Kurt Cunningham, a wildlife education specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The two cubs were transported to the state wildlife center in Helena on Monday. They were captured near the same home where their mother was caught in a culvert trap last week.

The mother grizzly was euthanized by a veterinarian because of a history of management problems stretching back to 1999. Since then, she has been captured five times by bear managers, always after she had gotten into food near homes or wandered onto porches in the Coram area.

'The fact that she started breaking into structures kind of sealed her fate,' Manley said. The bear most recently broke down the door to a tack shed to get to horse feed. It was the third time in the last month she had broken into outbuildings, and Manley finally caught up with her.

The first cub was caught in a culvert trap at the same location a day later. The following day, Manley got the second cub with a tranquilizer dart.

Removing three females from the Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear recovery area is a big loss, Manley conceded."

10/13/05

Local man kills 975 lb. livestock killing grizzly near Smithers, B.C.

 "A grizzly bear that has been killing livestock in the Hungry Hill area between Houston and Smithers was killed by a Williams Lake man on Wednesday morning. Predator control officer for the B.C. Cattlemen's Association Kyle Lay snared the bear and then killed it after being requested to by Ministry of Environment personal. It seems likely it was the father of another grizzly that was killed almost exactly four years ago in the same area and is now mounted in the Smithers airport.

The grizzly shot on Wednesday weighed 975 pounds, just 37 pounds lighter than the one in the airport. Both animals were killed because they had killed livestock in the area. Conservation Officer for the Smithers district Cam Schley said both bears are at the upper range of grizzly bear sizes.

'We suspect they are related.' While the head of the recently caught bear is the larger, the overall weight of the one in the airport is greater, said Schley.

The only confirmed killing by the recent grizzly was a steer that was found last Monday morning, weighing 900 to 1,100 pounds. The possibility of taking DNA samples from both bears to establish if they were related was being looked into. However, if it is revealed they are related, it is not possible that killing livestock was a trait taught from father to cub.

The father doesn't teach cubs anything. Schley said this grizzly had been known in the area for a while. He has heard rumours of another big bear in the Hungry Hill area over the last couple of years and we believe this bear caught yesterday was the source of all the rumours. It was caught within 500 meters of a private residence in the Hungry Hill area.

Summit Lake Rd. resident Maxine Bell whose family lost animals to both bears said they lost 30 animals to the first grizzly. 'Dad moved here in '48 and we never saw a grizzly or knew there was any around until this started.' This grizzly came to with 400 yards of her house to kill the steer, she said.

A trap was laid last Tuesday afternoon and the bear was killed on Wednesday morning."

10/13/05

Enzi lobbies to have grizzly bears de-listed

 "Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is pressing the federal government to remove wolves and grizzly bears in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho from the endangered species list.

The process to pass management of wolves and grizzlies to the three states has been stalled too long, Enzi said, claiming that wolves have 'decimated' the state's wildlife and harmed ranchers.

'Something must change,' Enzi said in a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Tuesday.

The senator asked for written assurances that the process to delist grizzlies will get under way this fall with a final decision early next year. If that's not possible, Enzi said, he'd like an explanation.

'I have been told many times that we will move forward with grizzly bear delisting, and I am disappointed that this effort has not moved forward,' Enzi wrote. 'It is time to make delisting the grizzly bear a reality.'

Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say the grizzly population in and around Yellowstone National Park - estimated at 400 to 600 - has recovered sufficiently to remove them from the endangered species list.

A proposal to delist the grizzly was expected to be released this summer. That proposal, though, is still under review at Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., Hugh Vickery, an Interior spokesman, said Thursday.

'We haven't had a chance to formulate a response to the senator,' Vickery said of Enzi's letter.

Earlier this month, Wyoming's other senator, Craig Thomas, also urged the government to delist the grizzly during a phone call with Norton."

10/11/05

Transplanted grizzly stays put in Cabinets

 "A female grizzly bear that was transplanted to the west Cabinet Mountains has wandered west into isolated country rather than homing eastward toward the place where she was captured.

State and federal biologists and bear managers were hoping the 6- to 8-year old bear would settle in the Cabinets rather than trying to return to the North Fork Flathead drainage where she was captured on Sept. 30. Grizzly bears are known to have an uncanny ability to cross mountain ranges and lakes to return to their original home ranges.

'She has moved about four miles west-northwest of where we let her off the truck,' said Wayne Kasworm, a bear biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "She's not into Idaho yet. She was still probably two miles from the Idaho line."

Kasworm last tracked the radio-collared bear on Oct. 6, and he estimates she'll be in the same general area when he flies this week to relocate her.

'She's in a higher elevation basin, several miles from the nearest road or trailhead,' he said. 'That's a good place for bears, a good distance away from things. She's in a place where we hoped she would set up a home range.'

But there's still plenty of time for the bear to move great distances, considering that Kasworm has known grizzly bears to wait until late November to hibernate in the Cabinet Mountains.

'If she's going to go back home, she's got to go east. She hasn't done that yet, but it's pretty early in the game. There's a lot of things she could do yet,' Kasworm said.

The bear's long-distance relocation on Oct. 2 was a milestone for the threatened Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population, officially estimated at fewer than 40 bears. She was the first bear to be moved from the separate and far more populated Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear recovery area."

10/11/05

Author sets out to discover the real Timothy Treadwell

 "It begins in early October 2003, with Jans, on assignment for Alaska magazine, flying to Upper Kaflia Lake near the southeastern coast of Katmai National Park to inspect Treadwell's last camp just five days after the fatal attack.

'If there was one place the National Park Service could tell you 'don't camp here!' -- it would be Kaflia Lake,' Jans said. In late summer, the alder-choked maze of bear trails that extend from the lake to the nearby coastline are usually packed with grizzlies."

--------------------------------

"What Jans discovered on his own were local reports of 'some weird things going on at Katmai' the season that Treadwell and Huguenard died.

Bear biologist and wildlife photographer Matthias Breiter told him that he'd led a party of about a half dozen photographers to a creek in an adjoining bay the previous week and been surprised by what he found. Where normally he might see a dozen grizzlies, this time there were 60 -- and a lot of bear fights in the mix."

-------------------------------

"Apparently, Jans said, the Katmai coast berry crop had failed that fall. Breiter surmised that the loss of the berries had forced the bears to focus their feeding more exclusively on fish. Hence the traffic jam at the creek and the cranky dispositions. Later, some of the same bears journeyed over the ridge to Kaflia in search of greener pastures.

'That doesn't mean it's an army of killer bears descending (into Kaflia),' Jans said. 'But it does mean that there are even more bears jammed into a finite resource'. And Timothy's journals -- which were read by the investigators -- demonstrated there were all sorts of fights breaking out there in a volatile environment."

---------------------------------

"Unusual too was the fact that Treadwell was still lingering at Katmai as late as early October. Usually he checked out a month earlier before the bears became stressed.

In summer, grizzlies that cluster together to feed on the plentiful salmon runs along the Katmai coast are naturally more tolerant of each other than their cousins, the smaller and far more dispersed inland brown bears, Jans said. They have to be.

And they're more tolerant of the occasional human as well, especially in a national park, where they seldom get shot at. That, he said, was part of the whole 'card trick' that explained how Treadwell got away with standing in their midst so much. Usually the bears there were too preoccupied to care.

Moreover, Treadwell undoubtedly 'habituated' several of the coastal bears to his presence after 13 years of visiting Katmai. But contrary to some press reports, Jans said, the bear that biologists believe attacked the couple wasn't a stranger.

No one knows for certain, but park officials believe it was the same bear that was seen feeding on Treadwell's and Huguenard's bodies the next day: a distinctively scarred 1,000-pound male that biologists knew simply as 'Bear 141,' having tattooed that number on its lip six years earlier -- but that Treadwell called 'Mr. Vicious' Which is kind of an odd name coming from a bear lover, Jans said.

'He actually told a bear-hunting friend of (bush pilot) Willie Fulton: 'If you ever want to shoot a bear, that's the one you should shoot.' And he gave him a picture of this bear.'

On the other hand, he'd crossed paths with the same large male on many occasions at Katmai, and there'd never been an attack, Jans adds. So why this time?"

---------------------------------------

"Hearing the bear outside his tent, Treadwell probably stepped outside to confront it, Jans said. Investigators later determined that it didn't tear into the tent, and an audio tape from a camcorder that was left running throughout the attack provided additional clues, though a cap covered the lens.

Jans wasn't allowed to hear the tape -- authorities concluded it was too personal and graphic to be made public -- but a ranger was willing to summarize some of what was heard and said.

It begins with Treadwell screaming for Huguenard to help him outside the tent: 'Come out here, I'm being killed out here!' he said. 'Play dead!' she shouted back.

Jans thinks the bear probably smashed Treadwell to the ground with its initial charge.

'A bear of any size is capable of holding him in its mouth and literally shaking him to death the way a terrier would a cat,' he writes. 'But Timothy Treadwell doesn't die quickly. The tape runs roughly six minutes, and his cries can be heard two-thirds of that time.'

The bear seems to have retreated briefly, leaving Treadwell on the ground, the investigators told Jans. Then it returned, and there was the sound of something being thrown. Treadwell begged Huguenard to hit the bear with a pan. Huguenard urged Treadwell to fight back. Then she started screaming in an eerie, rhythmic way. There was a dragging sound as Treadwell's voice trailed away, as if his body was being pulled into the brush.

Near the end, there was no movement, the investigator said. Just the sound of Huguenard screaming.

'And I won't put you through his imitation of it,' Jans said. 'It was just this repeated, very high-pitched, rhythmic, animal-like, totally melted-down scream, over and over. ... And then the bear comes back.'"

10/10/05

Brown bear attacks couple near Skilak Lake on Kenai Penninsula

 "A woman received serious head and shoulder injuries after being attacked by a bear Sunday.

Mary Colleen Sinnott remained hospitalized Monday at Central Peninsula General Hospital in Soldotna. Her injuries were not immediately considered life threatening, but hospital officials did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press seeking her condition.

A brown bear, estimated to weigh between 300 and 400 pounds, rushed out of the bushes and attacked Sinnott and John Poljacik, both of Kasilof, as they walked on the Skilak Lake Loup.

Poljacik received some minor scratches in the attack.

'It completely took them by surprise,' said Greg Wilkinson, Alaska State Trooper spokesman.

The husband and wife had taken their two 7-month-old Newfoundland puppies on a hike. But when they saw a bear in the distance, they decided to return.

'Just before they got back to their vehicle, they put the dogs back on leash,' Shanigan told the Peninsula Clarion. '(Sinnott) said she turned to her left and thought she saw a moose trying to get her, and at that time she was slammed from the side.'

Poljacik ran about 100 yards toward the vehicle to grab his pepper spray. The bear then attacked him, scratching his chest and back. Sinnott told the officer she hid behind trees, and Poljacik scared the bear off.'

She said, 'It was just a flash,'" Shanigan said after interviewing Sinnott at the hospital. 'It was over in 20 seconds.'"

10/10/05

Bear dogs in Glacier Backcountry

 "Carrie Hunt leaves the horse-whispering to other, more prosaic folk. It's far more exciting and satisfying, she said, to practice bear shouting."

"Her business, the Wind River Bear Institute, recently relocated from Utah to Florence, putting Hunt within a day's drive of the Lower 48's last remaining grizzly bear populations. It's a move that's allowed her to respond quickly to recent bear problems, including grain spills in the railroad corridor near Essex. And now that she's in the neighborhood, Hunt and her methods are expanding out of people's backyards and into the backcountry, with precedent-setting work deep in Glacier National Park."

10/7/05

State executes mother grizzly, cubs to go to jail. Two male grizzlies killed by "hunters"

 "State wildlife managers have euthanized a female grizzly bear that repeatedly caused problems west of Glacier National Park, and officials are investigating the deaths of two male grizzlies that were apparently killed by hunters.

The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the decision was made to euthanize the female grizzly because of a 'long history of conflict' with humans.

Grizzlies are protected under the Endangered Species Act. "

"Authorities in south-central Montana are still investigating the deaths of the two male grizzlies. One was shot by a hunter last week near Cooke City. Sam Sheppard, warden captain for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said they are investigating whether he mistook it for a black bear or may have felt threatened by the animal.

The second death was discovered last week, at the state's Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda. That bear, a 450-pound male, had been killed with an arrow. A hiker discovered the carcass."

Another grizzly gets clemency

 "On the same day she was killed, however, another bear was granted clemency by biologists who hope relocation will lead to rehabilitation. The 2-year-old male grizzly was caught after ranging too close to human houses, and on Oct. 5 was released into the Northwest Peaks area, not far from Yaak. That 200-pound bear was fitted with a radio collar, biologists said, and will be closely monitored."

10/6/05

U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas urges Interior Secretary Gale Norton to delist grizzlies

 "People looking to hunt grizzly bears in Wyoming got a round-about boost from U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas this week, as he urged Interior Secretary Gale Norton to move forward with a petition to remove the grizzly from Endangered Species Act protection.

With delisting, which has languished in recent months in part because of a Washington slow-down due to the Gulf Coast hurricanes, hunters in the greater Yellowstone area would have a limited season on the grizzly to keep numbers in check.

'Interior has been sitting on this proposal, and Wyoming deserves to know about the timing,'Thomas, R-Wyo., said in a news release after his Monday conversation with Norton. 'The bear is a good example of what's wrong with the Endangered Species Act. If it's recovered, then let's get a deadline set to sign the delisting rule. I told her that I understood that the Fish and Wildlife Service had put forth a very good plan, but that it seems to be stuck in the pipe.'

Thomas has been a champion of Endangered Species Act reform, saying it's easy to get a species listed but too difficult to get one removed from the list. A bill passed by the U.S. House, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., would overhaul the law. No timeline has been set for the Senate to take up the bill."

10/6/05

Grizzly that injured hikers to remain in Glacier

 "A female grizzly that attacked and injured two California hikers here in August reacted to a perceived threat to her two cubs and won't be killed or moved from the park, officials said Thursday. The park's investigation concluded the Aug. 25 incident was a 'defensive attack' by the sow, whom the two hikers apparently surprised while hiking in Glacier's Many Glacier Valley. Under the circumstances, 'it was determined that no action toward the bear was required,' said park spokeswoman Melissa Wilson."

10/3/05

Grizzly released in Cabinet Mountains

 " With a rambling sprint from a can-like culvert trap, a female grizzly bear moved into the Cabinet Mountains Sunday, becoming the first transplant for a struggling grizzly bear population in more than 10 years.

And she probably won't be the last, with state and federal agencies planning on several similar transplants from Montana's largest grizzly bear population -- the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem -- to its smallest and most threatened, the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem.

Biologists said it's possible that the bear is pregnant. If so, the transplant to the Spar Lake area in the west Cabinet Mountains could translate to a mother bear with one or two cubs by next spring. That would be a population boom for the Cabinets, where fewer than 15 grizzly bears are thought to exist.

Throughout the 2,600-square-mile Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Area, extending all the way to the extreme northwestern corner of the state, the grizzly population estimate is between 30 and 40 bears, said Wayne Kasworm, the area's lead bear biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The population's situation is so precarious that state and federal wildlife officials have proposed augmentation as a means of working toward recovery since the late 1980s. It was a contentious issue from the start."

10/2/05

Peninsula bear hunt closes before it begins

 "Wildlife management officials have closed the fall brown bear hunt on the Kenai Peninsula before it even got started.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the area registration hunt will not open this season because the number of human-killed bears has reached the management limit for Units 7 and 15.

The recommended limit for a three-year average should not exceed 20 bears and it should not go over eight female bears older than one year, officials said.

'The current three year average, from 2003-2005, of human-caused mortalities of brown bears on the Kenai Peninsula is eight females older than one year and 17 total bears. The total number of brown bears reported killed in 2005 is 17 bears, including seven females,' officials said in an agency statement.

'Any additional mortality would exceed the current management objective.'

There has always been interest in the fall brown bear hunt. In 1999, Fish and Game issued 154 permits for it. In 2000 it was 147, and in 2001 it was 98. In 2002 and 2003, the hunt was canceled as a result of the high number of brown bears killed before hunting season opened.

In 2004, the hunt opened with more than 250 hunters registered. However, it closed by emergency order after only two days in an effort to not exceed the management objective.

Officials have said an over-harvest of even one animal could significantly affect the brown bear hunt for several years."

10/2/05

Managers determine grizzly's mortality threshold

 "So far this year, seven male grizzly bears have been killed because of close encounters with humans.

Four of the losses were management removals, two were killed on roads, and one was dubbed an 'accidental mortality' because of a management action involving two orphaned cubs frequenting a subdivision.

In addition to the seven males, a female grizzly died apparently last fall but was found in the spring. The cause of her death was undetermined.

Last year, six females died in human-caused actions, making it the first year since 1997 that mortality thresholds for females was exceeded in the grizzly bear population.

But those thresholds are being changed based on new science.

Previously, managers eyed two mortality thresholds. One was, no more than 4 percent of the minimum population estimate can be killed by people. The second is, no more than 30 percent of that 4 percent -- or only 1.2 percent -- can be female.

Both of those numbers are based on a six-year average.

Now, grizzly bear managers, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, Forest Service and states, are looking to raise the mortality thresholds -- which are designed to help managers create a stable population -- to 9 percent of the total population estimate. (In 2004, minimum population estimate was 431. Total population estimate was 581 bears.)

Unlike the 4 percent previous threshold, that 9 percent will include all grizzly mortalities, not just those caused by humans. That includes natural mortality and 'undetermined.'

The new sustainable mortality levels are set for three sex and age groups of bears -- independent males, independent females and dependent young. These levels will be monitored for a three-year average.

These numbers are aimed at keeping grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem stable at a minimum of 500 bears -- the target number for delisting from the Endangered Species Act.

But conservationists say that number is still too low to have a genetically viable population. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials have said that threshold will likely be exceeded in the bear's periphery habitat, where it gets into conflict with humans."

10/2/05

Groups defend relocating bears

 "Nine grizzly bears have been relocated from the Upper Green River Valley this year after conflicts with livestock. But environmentalists and bear biologists defend the relocations, saying they're usually an effective way to prevent future run-ins.

A case in point is a bear that was killed in a car crash near Moran this year - 12 years after it was tranquilized, captured and relocated because of conflicts with livestock.

Louisa Willcox, wild bears project director with the Natural Resources Defense Council based in Livingston, Mont., said the bear had never again threatened livestock.

That's typical, said Mark Bruscino, a bear management officer for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, who estimated that 70 percent of relocated bears never get in trouble with wildlife managers again.

'Moving bears is an effective management tool the majority of the time,' Bruscino said.

'If we move them real quick, a lot of times they will go back to acting like a wild bear,' he said.

Why is relocating bears so effective?

'My guess is being captured, transported, ear tagged, collared - it's a very stressful experience for them, and the last thing they want to do is be near anything they associated with that event,' Bruscino said. 'When you open the trap door, they make a large movement,' many fleeing 10 to 20 miles before slowing down to get their bearings.

Still, relocating bears can be controversial.

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill requiring Game and Fish to notify county sheriff's departments and news outlets when a problem bear is moved into an area.

Backers of the bill said the public had a right to know when a problem bear was in the area."

9/30/05

Parks Canada failing to protect grizzlies

 "More than a month ago, bear No. 66, a tolerant female grizzly with three cubs, was struck and killed on the Canadian Pacific Railway line in Banff National Park. At that time, experts gave her cubs almost no chance of survival. Three weeks later, two of the cubs were killed crossing the Trans-Canada Highway. Parks Canada officials quickly captured the third cub, which now resides in the Calgary Zoo.

The regular deaths of grizzly bears as a result of human activity are nothing new for Canada's flagship national park. During the past six years, 13 grizzlies have died or been removed from the population as a direct result of human activities. This toll leaves Parks Canada and the managers of Banff National Park in direct contravention of the park's management plan for the sixth year in a row.

This is bad news for Alberta's grizzly bear population, a sensitive and threatened species, but it is even more troubling for Canada's voting public, which continues to watch an arrogant federal government ignore its own regulations, policies and management plans for reasons only the bureaucrats and politicians in charge must know.

Banff National Park's management plan, which was approved by Parks Canada officials (and Parliament) in 1993, stipulates that human activities in the park must be managed in a way that will keep human-caused grizzly bear deaths below 1 per cent of the estimated population. With only 60 grizzlies in Banff National Park, that means fewer than 0.6 bears can be killed each year. This translates, really, into one bear every two years. But that legally binding threshold has been surpassed for the sixth consecutive year. On average, more than two grizzlies have been killed each year, more than 300 per cent higher than the management plan's target. In 2005 alone, the target has already been surpassed by 800 per cent.

The frequency and regularity with which grizzlies die in Banff National Park is a sure-fire indicator that Parks Canada is failing to maintain the park's ecological integrity, its primary mandate. As disappointing as that may sound, it may not be the problem that should bother Canadians the most.

What may be more important is the apparent indifference and lack of accountability exhibited by a federal government known to ignore issues that matter most to Western Canada. For six years, Parks Canada has done nothing meaningful to improve the way it manages Banff National Park to ensure that grizzly bear deaths are kept below the target it set 12 years ago. Yes, a 70-kilometre-an-hour speed limit was implemented for the Trans-Canada Highway through Lake Louise, but it is rarely obeyed and almost never enforced. Yes, a 'strategic framework for the conservation of grizzly bears' was incorporated into the Banff management plan during a review in 2004. But neither of these facile actions have been effective at reducing the number of dead grizzlies. The statistics themselves bear this out."

9/30/05

Bears kill more elk calves than do wolves

 "When young elk die on Yellowstone National Park's northern range, more often than not the killers are bears, not wolves, according to results of a three-year study.

The survey of elk calf mortality indicates that bears were responsible for 53 percent of the kills, while wolves were responsible for 12.8 percent and coyotes 11.1 percent, according to preliminary results.

The outcome came as no surprise for biologists who study predator-prey relationships around the country. In areas where bears and ungulates share a piece of land, bears tend to seize opportunities to eat young calves."

9/30/05

Bear necessities

 "In his weekly opinion column, Harold Evans reflects on how an environmental success story - rescuing grizzlies from extinction - could be set back by the relentless quest for oil."

9/30/05

Yellowstone grizzly debate rears its head

 "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to remove the endangered listing for grizzly bears in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.

Environmentalists say that would give developers a better chance of success when seeking planning permission to build outside Yellowstone. It would also put the bears living beyond the park back in the sights of hunters, as some hunting would be permitted.

Yellowstone grizzlies are genetically isolated from the thousands of grizzlies in Canada, most in British Columbia, but sizable numbers in Alberta and the Yukon.

The 'Yogi Bear' era contributed to their dwindling numbers when the park allowed visitors to feed bears from their cars. Many bears lost their fear of humans, leading to an increased number of attacks, which in turn meant the animals had to be destroyed or removed.

Some 220 grizzlies were killed in Yellowstone between 1969 and 1971, and only 200 remained when the animal was placed on the endangered list in 1975."

"Some groups, however, are not so sure that can be done. 'With bears delisted, there will not be as much control on development, and the reduction of habitat is the biggest threat to the grizzly,' said Tom Olenicki, wildlife biologist with Craighead Environment Research Institute in Bozeman, Mont.

Oil and gas exploration south of Yellowstone, and logging throughout the region, have reduced forest area.

The disease blister rust is also destroying Whitebark Pine, which produces nuts the bears eat.

'The numbers may be up now, but they may have to be listed again as pressure on the bears makes breeding difficult and human conflict increases,' Olenicki said.

What's more, states bordering the park have already drawn up proposals for resumed hunting, in part pressured by ranchers who say an increasing number of the bears are roaming on their land."

9/29/05

Bears with us

 "Variously (and wrongly) portrayed as bloodthirsty killers or cuddly teddies, bears face a tough rap. Can Montanans set the record straight?"

 

9/29/05

Grizzly Found Dead Near Mill Creek

 "Game wardens were surprised to find a grizzly bear south of Anaconda. But they were even more surprised to learn someone had killed the endangered animal.

A citizen reported the dead bear near Mill Creek Friday. Wardens responded and identified it as a grizzly. A male, it weighed about 450 pounds and was about 61/2 years old, which is considered middle-aged.

'He would have lived longer if he wouldn't have been killed,' said Sgt. Coy Kline, who works for the Butte branch of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Investigators believe the bear was killed Tuesday, Sept. 20, or Wednesday, Sept. 21 — judging by the state of decay, said Doug Goessman, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent from Bozeman.

A hunter possibly killed the grizzly after mistaking it for a black bear, investigators said. Black bear hunting season, for bows and guns, opened earlier in September.

The grizzly bear probably died quickly, investigators said.

For investigative purposes, game wardens would not release further details as to exactly how the grizzly was killed. They also would not describe where it was killed, except by noting it was found in the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area.

'The biggest thing is it is a threatened species,' Kline said. 'We don't have a lot of them around.' Game wardens are still investigating the crime, and they request anyone with information to call. A reward of up to $5,000 is available. "

 

9/29/05

Adjudicator overturns Kootenai timber sale

 "For the second time in a month, a U.S. Forest Service appeals adjudicator has surprised officials on the Kootenai National Forest, overturning timber sales because of wildlife concerns.

'It is unusual,' forest supervisor Bob Castaneda said Wednesday. 'We have a very high rate of success with being upheld during appeal review.'

'Obviously,' he said, 'there's something here that we should have done differently.'

According to the agency's own 'appeal deciding officer,' what should have been done differently is a closer look at logging's effects on wildlife, especially grizzly bears.

In the case of the Green Mountain timber sale reversal Sept. 12, the agency's reviewing officer wrote that the Kootenai forest's environmental reviews did 'not adequately address' impacts of new forest roads.

Then, on Sept. 26, the appeals officer reversed the Northeast Yaak timber sale, saying the forest's environmental review leading up to the sale failed to take into account impacts to grizzly bears.

'The road density in there is way too high for grizzly bear survival,' said appellant Michael Garrity, executive director of Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies. 'The population of grizzly bears in the Yaak is declining, and heading straight for extinction.'

The best estimates by scientists put the bear population at about three or four dozen, with 40 an oft-cited educated guess. But in the six years since 1999, 19 of those bears died.

Some were killed by hunters, others by poachers, others in 'management actions' after getting into trouble with homeowners. Some simply died natural deaths.

But the fact remains, Garrity said, that half the Yaak's grizzly bear population died in the past six years, and most of the bruins died within a stone's throw of a road.

Biologists have long understood that as road density goes up, so does bear mortality. The question now is whether Kootenai officials can hope to craft a timber sale that will be accepted by the appellants who speak on behalf of the bear."

 

9/29/05

Ursus Horribilis: Bear Encounters of Every Kind

 "Seems to me that I have too many bear stories and also that they get progressively more frightening. They started when I was a kid visiting Yellowstone with my family in the 50’s. That was when the Yellowstone bears were feeding out of the open dumps and somewhat habituated to humans and, it seems, us to them. My siblings and I would have contests to see who could see the most bears and when we did see them, we’d play chicken, and leave tidbits for them to eat and dare each other to get close. It wasn’t uncommon to find a bear in the garbage cans at the Old Faithful cabins or watch with horrified delight from inside of the car as a very bold one climbed up onto the hood and peered in."

"All of my memorable bear encounters have taught me a lesson and could have been avoided if I had been more careful."

9/29/05

'Nice words will not protect grizzly bears'

 "Today, the federal Commissioner on the Environment and Sustainable Development identified serious shortcomings with the federal government’s initiatives in the areas of biodiversity and oceans, as well as the need to do more to protect our national parks, in the report she tabled in Parliament.

CPAWS, a national non-profit organization committed to conserving Canada’s big wilderness landscapes, urges the federal government to embrace the Commissioners’ call to move from words to actions to protect Canada’s lands, seas and diversity of life."

 “'We need