Montana bear euthanized after biting hiker

[Emily]

from the Montana Standard
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles ... te_top.txt

Bear killed after biting hiker
By Nick Gevock - 07/17/2008

State wildlife officials have trapped and killed a black bear in the Birch Creek area north of Dillon after a backcountry camper was bitten earlier in the morning after cooking fish in his camp.

Craig Fager, a biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said he trapped the young male bear at the Dinner Station campground in the east Pioneer Mountains around 5 a.m. July 10. Earlier that morning, three backpackers camping at Deerhead Lake about a mile from there encountered a bear that bit one of the young men.

They had been cooking fish in their camp and had food remains in the fire, Fager said. The backpackers hiked out to get their friend medical attention and the bear was able to get into their food, Fager said.

Officials could not confirm that the bear trapped at Dinner Station, about a mile away, was the same one that bit the hiker but made the decision to euthanize it.

“If we released that bear it was just a chance that we weren’t going to take,” he said.

The man, whose name was not released, was treated at a local hospital for puncture wounds and released.

Bears have increasingly been hanging around both the Dinner Station campground, which is accessible by cars, and the lakes in the Birch Creek and Willow Creek drainages. Hikers have reported bears coming around those areas.

Those bears are looking for an easy meal from campers’ food, Fager said. Once they get it, they learn that people mean food, Fager said. And when that happens, the behavior can be nearly impossible to correct and the bear usually has to be killed.

“Bears are very good at learning things — their brains and stomachs are connected,” he said. “At both that campground and those mountain lakes, you’re right in their kitchen and these are the end results when you don’t secure your food and bears get curious.” The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest has issued a food storage order for the Birch Creek and Willow Creek area. The special rule will remain in effect until Dec. 1 and requires all food to be kept in a secured vehicle, hung up or kept in special bear-proof containers.

The order was in response not only to the biting incident, but also numerous reports from the public, said Christine Romero, forest spokeswoman.

“Our recreation folks have been receiving calls that they’ve had bear sightings in that area,” she said. “That Birch Creek and Willow Creek area has been the hot spot for bears.” Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.

For more info For information on the food storage order for the Birch Creek and Willow Creek areas, call the Dillon headquarters of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest at 683-3900 or go to the forest Web site at www.fs.fed.us/r1/bdnf/.