Two Grizzly Bears Killed After Separate Human Contact In Montana

An adult male grizzly bear was euthanized on November 10 after the animal found its way to a garage in search for food.

The bear, who broke into a garage and fed on a harvested elk, was captured by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) on a private property along Farm to Market Road near Libby Creek in Montana.

It then followed the guidelines set by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee after consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the news release.

The same bear had been previously caught October 11 near Big Cherry Creek when it attempted to break into a barn looking for food. The article pointed that it was the first known conflict that involved a bear attempting to gain human-related food sources.

“When animals become food conditioned, they lose their natural foraging behavior,” it said.

The 25-year-old bear gained 100 pounds between the months that it was captured, reported the U.S. News.

In addition to the most recent incidents, in 2018 the bear was involved in a surprise attack involving a USFWS field assistant in the Poorman Creek Drainage area: https://t.co/F3MYIW9fCq
— KRTV Great Falls MT (@KRTV) November 12, 2019

FWP fitted the bear with a tracking collar and relocated it to a remote location near Poorman Creek in the Cabinet Mountains a day after it was first captured.

Kim Annis monitored the bear's movements after it was released, but the Grizzly Bear Management Specialist “attempted to recapture the bear in an attempt to euthanize it” after its frequent visits to nearby residential areas.

In May 2018, the bear attacked a USFWS field assistant in the Poorman Creek Drainage. The personnel was injured after it surprised the bear. He fended off the bear with the use of a bear spray.

The same bear was also captured in 2005 for research purposes.

Meanwhile, Montana Public Radio reported that another bear was killed last week.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the death of a grizzly bear from a reported self-defense shooting on Sinclair Creek Trail in the Kootenai National Forest east of Eureka. https://t.co/wzWwawqYC8
— Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Region 1 (@MontanaFWPR1) November 12, 2019

A female grizzly bear was killed by a hunter in the Whitefish Range east of Eureka on November 7. FWP spokesperson Dillon Tabish said that the bear, which was with her cub at the time of the attack, charged at an adult male hunter.

The hunter reported the incident to a Montana game warden and was deemed under investigation.

FWP will not be capturing the bear cub, it added.

The recent death marked the mother bear as the 44^th grizzly to have been killed in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) this year.

A total of 99 grizzly bears have been killed or removed from the NCDE over the past two years.