June 6, 1998 Officials kill young grizzly near Coram By MICHAEL JAM ISON of the Missouliian.

CORAM - Just hours after Glacier National Park officials killed a grizzly bear Thursday, state officials captured and killed another in a small community less than 10 miles from the park's west entrance. The 4-year-old male bruin was captured in the Coram area, where he had been visiting residences for more than a week. Erik Wenum, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks game damage specialist, darted the 200-pound grizzly from 15 feet as it walked past a home late Thursday. Friday morning, a local veterinarian killed the animal by lethal injection. The bear was killed, said FWP Wildlife Manager Harvey Nyberg, because of its lack of fear of humans, its habituation to garbage, and its threat to the public.

CAG Comment

This statement gives you some idea of what is in store for the people of Ravalli County and in Missoula County along with people in counties adjacent to the SBE in Idaho with the reintroduction of grizzly bears.

It will be a whole new ball game, i.e. no pet food left out for your animals (dogs, cats, horses, cows, lemmas, sheep, pigs, etc.; no building more than .6 miles of road on your property if it is in a buffer zone or corridor-all kinds of neat rules and regulations that will carry federal penalties.

We did not have all these hassles when the State Fish, Wildlife and Parks managed the Grizzly Bears.

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Officials contacted 32 zoos about taking the animal, he said, but none wanted the grizzly. "This is the trend we've seen over the last several years," Nyberg said. "Grizzlies breed well in captivity and placement in zoos has become harder and harder." Given the bear's troublesome history, he said, officials had little choice but to kill the animal. The grizzly, Nyberg said, was first encountered in the southwestern corner of Glacier Park in spring of 1997, where it roamed Close to homes. It was trapped and relocated to a remote wilderness area of the park, but came back last fall to kill a turkey in the Coram area. This spring, the bear again returned to residences around Lake Five, West Glacier and Coram, picking up meals of garbage, dog food and bones. "The bear showed absolutely zero concern about people" Wenum said. "He was easily approachable, Which made him potentially very dangerous According to, Wenum, people shot at the bear's feet, threw objects at him and tried to shout him away with no apparent effect. At one home, the bear calmly ate from a dog's bowl as an aggressive dog barked in its face.

"Once the bear gets a reward," Wenum said, "all of our aversive conditioning work is shot and we have to start all over. Once a bear gets a food reward at one house, that bear is a public safety risk for everyone.

CAG Comment

The food reward does not have to be at a 'house'. Can be that pickings are better in the valley than up in the Idaho Batholith with all its granite and schist, and very little else.

Mr. Secretary of the Interior, "PLEASE SAVE THE CHILDREN!" Stop this insanity before it's too late! By not reintroducing you can protect Grizzly Bears too!

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