Glacier National Park grizzly deaths

Two grizzlies at Montana's Glacier National Park were killed by park officials last week — one, unfortunately, unintentionally.

Glacier National Park issued a press release today clarifying that the death of a male grizzly bear cub on Aug. 17 was attributed to a tranquilizer dart injection it received at the time its 17-year-old mother was being "humanely dispatched" (National Park-speak for "killed") for becoming too habituated to humans. A second cub, a female, was captured and will be transferred to the Bronx Zoo. Shown below is park officials transferring the cub to a larger trap.

The mother and yearling cubs had repeatedly been seen this summer hanging around the backcountry campground at Oldman Lake in the park's Two Medicine region, and their removal came after two separate incidents in which they approached humans "in a non-defensive situation," said the Park Service.

The mother bear had a number of run-ins with humans dating back to 2004, and the Park Service repeatedly used noise, Karelian Bear Dogs and other non-lethal methods to keep her away from humans. The park service began tracking her about five days before she was killed.

Anyone who's hiked in Glacier is made well-aware by park officials of the risks of recreating in grizzly country. The few times I've hiked there — including in the bear-intensive Many Glacier region — I've used "bear bells" to warn of my presence and carried a canister of bear spray. I would love to have seen a grizz, albeit from a very safe distance. According to park official Wade Muehlhof, the area near Oldman Lake (shown below) was closed sporadically this summer but is now open.

This latest killing of bears in the name of public safety has already generated some buzz, specifically: Should the Park Service have done more to "decondition" the bears to humans? Check out this thought-provoking dispatch on New West. According to park officials, between 2004 and 2006, the mother and cubs approached hikers, forcing them off the trails; came into campground cooking areas; and sniffed and licked at tents during the night. Perhaps these areas should have been closed to humans, if not temporarily, then indefinitely.

And so now Glacier has lost three of its prized megafauna, including a breeding female. The second cub is awaiting transport to a zoo thousands of miles away. Why the Bronx Zoo, I asked Muehlhof? U.S. Fish and Wildlife coordinates placement of grizzlies into captive facilities, he said, and the zoo was the only federally approved facility that would take her.

—Julie Sheer

Photos by Wade Muehlhof / National Park Service

Comments

[Henry I]

It is always easy to take the low road. And the low road in this case is "killing" the bears. In the year 2009 we should have a better method than just killing bears. They at least should be transported to very remote bear ranges.
Wow, I am a hunter and I am shocked by this type of behavior.

[Mike Vandeman]

This only confirms, once again, the utter selfishness of humans. Dangerous animals like the grizzly, moose, crocodile, and mountain lion need and deserve habitat that is off-limits to all humans. See http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/india3 and http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/grizz for details.

[Peter Dickinson]

It sounds so simple doesn't it 'relocate'...but to where? Suitable habitat will already have bears and these are not likely to be too friendly towards a new competitor for food and space. Life for such relocted bears is likely to be extremely stressful. 'Killing' or 'Culling' when carried out responsibly does not hurt or harm and in todays world is a necessary and kind conservation tool.

The world as we and bears know it, is shrinking. We have to share. Putting areas 'off limits' means people will care less and are less likely to want to protect. Far better to use in a practical and sensible manner.

[Wendy Francis]

Why could Glacier Park managers have not temporarily closed the campground while the bears where there during berry season. Such temporary closures are common in Banff National Park. Or given this bear's history and the location of the campground in a known feeding area, could the campground have not been permanently moved? These actions should have been considered before taking the bear's life.