Young Grizzly Girl

Blog | November 18, 2009

The phone call was urgent — there was a grizzly bear in her garage right this minute … she didn’t want it hurt — what should she do?  This was the bear Fish and Game had been trying to trap for several weeks in response to neighborhood complaints.  Jean jumped in his truck to stabilize the situation while I called Fish and Game.  Even though grizzlies are federally protected there had been threats against the bear’s life and it was only a matter of time before it was shot.  It had been hanging around several subdivisions eating birdseed, suet, grease off barbecues and dog food kept in garages.

She was easily trapped, transported to Cody and released.  But there are troubling questions.  She was only a yearling.  Why was she alone?  Where was her mother, who would ordinarily be showing her how and where to feed, where and when to den.  Why wasn’t she already denned up?  There was no den dug for her to help motivate her to hibernate.  There is little food for a bear this time of the year, and they loose precious calories looking for it and keeping themselves warm.  She was relocated to a strange area where she would have no knowledge of food sources when she comes out of hibernation, famished, in spring.  Is possible starvation better than being shot?  If she is unfamiliar with the area, mightn’t she go back to people as a source of desperately needed nutrition?  And then what?  Take two … she had already been caught as a cub in August and tagged, at Grassy Lake near Ashton, Idaho.  Her mother wasn’t around then either. Now she was here, having traveled about 80 miles in 3 months, with no specific goal. Why wouldn’t she come back here, now that there is a goal — familiar territory, a sense of home?  Relocated grizzlies travel far to get back home.  If so, what will be her fate?

“The bear wasn’t menacing at all or threatening in any way,” said Leslie Mead, owner of the bear garage. “I heard this noise behind me – almost a purr or chirp.” (This sound is called “puttering,” and is the sound a baby bear makes when it is nursing on its mother, when it is scared and trying to comfort itself, or lonely and trying to give itself comfort similar to a child sucking its thumb. If not walking, that is what they do as they make that sound – suck on their paw. It is the sure sign of a young and lonely bear.)   “I turned, we saw each other, I turned and walked slowly into the house and she went towards the garbage, purring all the way.  She gave no trouble.  There were no signs of aggression. I shooed her away but she was back in 20 minutes.  Once she was in the cage she was very quiet.  My husband had his face six inches from hers and there were no sign of aggression — none.  She was a delightful bear.  I had the sense that she was lonely and in a curious way felt refuge or some sense of companionship with people.”

Earthfire got the call because people know of our absolute commitment to the welfare of wildlife, and the knowledge base that comes from living intimately with them.  This, and many other stories like it, have given great urgency to our second goal: the building of a wildlife rehabilitation center for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so there is a temporary place for bears like her, if it is too late in the season to release them.  Bears could be trained to stay away from people using effective techniques developed by wildlife trainers over the years and transferable to the wild. We have access to 30 years experience and close observation of native wildlife from The Wild Bunch Ranch, committed to helping us with rehabilitation.

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