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Two Female Grizzlies Relocated to Cabinet Mountains

Relocations part of an effort to boost the grizzly population in the Cabinet Mountains

By Beacon Staff

Two young female grizzly bears were relocated last week to the Cabinet Mountains as part of the Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear population augmentation program, wildlife officials announced.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists captured the pair of 2-year-old grizzly bears in Deadhorse Creek in the Whitefish Range. The bears are siblings and were captured in the backcountry specifically to be relocated to the Cabinet Mountains as part of an ongoing grizzly bear population augmentation program, according to FWP.

The bears have no history of conflict with humans and have never been captured before. The bears were released above Spar Lake in the Kootenai National Forest.

This program is an ongoing effort to boost and recover the grizzly bear population in the Cabinet Mountains and is a cooperative effort between FWP and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Under the program, FWP captures bears in backcountry areas of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and USFWS monitors the animals after their release in the Cabinet Mountains. All grizzly bears relocated to the Cabinets are monitored with a radio collar until their collars drop off. The collars utilize the global positioning system (GPS) to gather locations every few hours in order to follow the bears’ movements.

The relocation of these female grizzly bears marks the 12th and 13th grizzly bears to be released into the Cabinet Mountains as part of this cooperative population augmentation program since 2005.