Bear euthanized after snapping at Idaho resident. Her cubs will be sent to wildlife rehab
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Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman
KETCHUM (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers euthanized a female black bear after she reportedly growled and snapped at a Ketchum resident.
In a news release Monday, the agency said the bear was searching garbage cans for food when it “growled and snapped at a resident.” Officials said they suspected it was the same black bear that a week prior charged a woman who tried to shoo it from her garbage can. The two incidents occurred about a block apart.
Fish and Game conservation officers found the bear Monday in a tree with two cubs. The bear was shot with a sedation dart and fell from the tree. It later died “from a combination of stress and effects from the sedation and capture,” the agency said, noting that conservation officers had planned to euthanize the bear regardless.
“Due to her aggressiveness toward people, we could not in good conscience release her and have her end up in someone else’s home or camp,” Magic Valley Regional Wildlife Manager Mike McDonald said in the news release.
McDonald noted that unsecured trash cans had been left out overnight in the area despite repeated warnings.
The bear cubs were captured and taken to Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary in McCall where Fish and Game said they’ll be raised without human contact in the hopes of releasing them to the wild when they’re older.
It’s the second time in recent days that Fish and Game has euthanized a black bear after it began seeking food from human sources. A male bear was euthanized July 14 after it was trapped at Stoddard Creek Campground near Dubois. The agency said the bear had been feeding on garbage left out by campers and began opening coolers and pushing on tents in attempts to find food.
Earlier this month, Fish and Game said it planned to trap and euthanize a food-conditioned black bear in the North Fork area of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. It also warned of a food-conditioned bear in the Baumgartner Campground area.