Bears on the prowl as berry crop fails

Hungry bears have closed an auto campground in Glacier National Park and last week one was shot and killed after it persisted yards in Columbia Falls.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game wardens shot an old female black bear near Rivers Edge Park Sept. 8 at about 1 p.m. The sow was over 18 years old and in poor condition.

"She appeared to be in a lot of pain and just not functioning well," FWP public information officer John Fraley said. "She was visible in a lot of yards."

Residents near the park had seen her staying in the forests around the neighborhood for the past month.

Fraley said that it is a public safety concern when a bear is showing no fear of humans and staying that close to a residential area.

The sow had one cub. The 9-month-old bear is old enough to survive in the wild on its own, Fraley said.

The bears caused some excitement in the neighborhood.

At about 10 a.m. residents found the bears eating apples under two trees on Erma Gladieux's rental properties next to her home. While waiting for FWP Bear and Lion Specialist Erik Wenum and bear conflict technician Kylie Jones to arrive, the locals tried to keep the bears together.

They were afraid the cub would run off after finishing the apples on the ground and his ill mom would follow, residents said.

So, nearby resident Tony Daugherty started throwing apples at the two and even climbed up the tree to shake more down. The cub kept trying to go behind the houses back into the forest, he said. Daugherty got about 10 feet away from the cub while it was up a pine tree.

"We had a standoff," Daugherty said. "He was up in the tree staring me down."

"Then he started chomping at the bit and I thought maybe he was going to come after you," Gladieux said.

"He was getting a little frisky," Daugherty said.

Daugherty spent nearly three hours with the bears, but said he wouldn't recommend it.

"It's not good practice to babysit bears," he said.

In fact, FWP implores people to clean up their fruit trees and secure their garbage, which is what attracts the bears in the first place. Chickens are also a major concern and coops and should be protected with electric fencing.

Glacier National Park closed down the St. Mary auto campground last week after so many bears were feeding in the camp that it was unsafe for people. The Park said it didn't know when the camp would reopen. The Park had previously banned tent camping on Aug. 28 because of bear danger, though rangers said bears hadn't actually bothered any people.

At this time of year, bears are entering a phase called hyperphagia. It is a period of concentrated feeding to prepare for hibernation. This year there has been an exceptionally abundant crop of a variety of berries located in the St. Mary campground, attracting bears to the area, Glacier officials said. But there has been an extreme shortage of berries in other areas of Glacier as it was the driest summer on record. Many berry bushes simply shriveled up in the heat.

On Sunday one bold black bear walked out onto the Going-to-the-Sun Road and stopped traffic. The bear sniffed the car in front of it and even put its paws on the hood. The driver of the vehicle kept the window rolled up and the bear wandered off.

Glacier Park regulations require that all edibles, food containers and cookware be stored in a hard-sided vehicle or food locker when not in use, day or night. Visitors are required to place all trash in bear-proof containers.