Posts Tagged ‘John Walczak’
Officials sedate a female grizzly bear captured east of Ronan in order to load her in preparation for transportation to the Louisville (Ky.) Zoo. The grizzly discovered chickens in the area that hadn’t been properly secured were an easy source of food, and kept coming back for more helpings. (Photo courtesy of Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes )
The grizzly’s two cubs, who, like their mother, also would have had to be put down had the Louisville Zoo not stepped forward, were being taught bad behavior by the chicken-eating sow. (Photo courtesy Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes)
It’s a bittersweet end to a story that began east of Ronan in May, when an adult female grizzly with two cubs developed a taste for chicken.
She eluded traps set by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for much of the summer, and by the time she was captured, the chicken habit was ingrained – and may have spread to include pigs as well.
Oftentimes, such behavior results in a death sentence for the bear.
“And that would have meant putting her cubs down, too,” says Dale Becker, wildlife manager for the tribes. “We had a problem doing that over chickens. I understand that people’s property is valuable to them, but killing three grizzlies is not something we want to do.”
Relocating the mother and her cubs, the tribes concluded, wasn’t likely to end the sow’s newly acquired taste for chicken – developed, it should be noted, because some people didn’t take measures that could have safeguarded their chickens from such attacks.
Tags: buffalo post, Chris Servheen, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Flathead Indian Reservation, Germaine White, Glacier Run Bear Habitat, Grizzlies, Grizzly bears, John Walczak, Louisville Zoo, Native American news, Yellowstone National Park, ZooMontana