Grizzly bear captured near Libby
by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
October 8, 2015
On October 5, 2015, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) captured a 500-pound, 6.5-year old male grizzly bear south of Libby off Snowshoe Road. The bear had gone through a non-functioning electric fence and consumed honey out of beehives. The electric fence was restored to working order, and the grizzly bear was radio collared and relocated to the head of Bear Creek in the Cabinet Mountains the evening of October 6th.
This bear was born in the Yaak in 2009. He was originally captured and GPS collared as a 2-year old in 2011 in Meadow Creek as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) grizzly bear monitoring program. The bears GPS collar dropped off in late 2012. Sometime between 2013 and 2015 this bear crossed from the Yaak area to the Cabinet Mountains. This is the first documented account of a native grizzly bear to make this crossing since the USFWS began their monitoring program here in the early 1990s.
The capture of this grizzly bear is the first grizzly bear to be captured for management reasons in the Cabinet-Yaak area in 2015.
For more information, contact Kim Annis, FWP Cabinet-Yaak Bear Management Specialist, at 406-293-4161 or 406-291-1320.
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