JACKSON, Wyo. — A sow grizzly was relocated last week after exhibiting habituated behavior in the Cody area.
At the direction of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured and relocated a subadult female grizzly bear on September 22.
The bear was captured for habituated behavior on private lands west of Cody. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, the bear was relocated to Squirrel Meadows in the Winegar Hole Wilderness on the Caribou-Targhee NF approximately 27 miles northwest of Moran.
Bears that are considered a threat to human safety are never relocated. Grizzly bear relocation is a management tool afforded to large carnivore biologists to minimize conflicts between humans and grizzly bears and is critical to the management of the population.
When other options are exhausted or unattainable, Game and Fish will attempt to capture the bear. Once the animal is captured, all circumstances are taken into account when determining if the individual should be relocated or removed from the population. If relocation is warranted, the selection of a relocation site is determined taking into consideration the age, sex, and type of conflict the bear was involved in as well as potential human activity in the vicinity of the relocation site.
This particular site was chosen due to the lack of human presence and the ability to release the bears several miles behind closed gates. Consultation with the appropriate personnel and agencies occurs to minimize the chance of future conflicts and maximize the survival potential of the relocated grizzly bear. Bears that are deemed an immediate threat to human safety are not released back into the wild.
Bears are relocated in accordance with state and federal law and regulation. Game and Fish continues to stress the importance of the public’s responsibility in bear management and the importance of keeping all attractants (food items, garbage, horse feed, birdseed, and others) unavailable to bears. Reducing attractants available to bears reduces human-bear conflicts.
