Cattle-killing griz retreats to forest

A relocated grizzly bear with a history of cattle predation saved its own hide this past week by staying clear of the Benbow area and away from local cattle.
Wildlife officials have been trying to catch the sow grizzly believed to be responsible for eight cattle deaths in the Benbow area between Aug. 14 and Sept. 6.
“Despite an intensive trapping effort to capture the offending grizzly between the West Rosebud and the Stillwater there has been no success to date,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Biologist Shawn Stewart.
FWP and Wildlife Services work cooperatively in these cases, with FWP monitoring the locations of bears and providing ground support to Wildlife Services as needed.
The good new is that there have been no documented cases of cattle depredations since Sept. 6 and the bear has stayed in the forest. Stewart knows this because officials are tracking the bruin’s movements daily through a GPS radio collar it was outfitted with when it was relocated from east of Red Lodge to the Gallatin River, south of Bozeman, in late July. It was relocated because it was believed to have been involved in cattle depredation near Red Lodge.
“Generally we have found her at high elevation over the last six to eight days. She may be using lower elevations at night but by daylight she is in very steep timbered terrain,” said Stewart, adding that kind of terrain is not conducive to trapping.
Due to the lack of depredation, there are currently no traps set for the bear. However, that will change should another domestic animal is killed or if officials find her “to have localized in a spot that is conducive to her capture.”
Because of her history, she will be euthanized when caught.
“This bear is our highest priority right now and we evaluate potential for capture on a daily basis,” said Stewart.
The attacks have taken place in the Benbow area and mainly at night. Two cattle have been killed on the Keller Ranch in the Fiddler Creek area, amounting to about $4,000 in damage.
Stewart said bear versus human conflicts will continue to rise as the Yellowstone Ecosystem is saturated with grizzlies, which means they have spilled outward.
Bears are particularly dangerous this time of year as they focus all of their attention on eating as much as possible in preparation for winter hibernation.
This pushes them into lower elevations to search for food sources. Chokecherry production was very poor this year and white bark pine cone was also below average in this area.