Grizzly Bear Feature
October 15, 2001
| We had a little excitement on the ranch this weekend when Bear Management caught a huge sow Grizzly bear and her two cubs. Mike Madel has been working with our population for 18 years and is a real expert on removing problem bears, when necessary. He tranquilized them, so I got some first-hand pictures, up close and personal! The sow's name is Bertha and Mike thinks that she has lived below our house all summer. The problems arose when she began to tear down apple and plum trees in our little community across the creek, in order to get the fruit from the high branches. My father's tree was literally destroyed, as were a slew of trees in the backyard of my husband's sister. Bertha worked at night, so very few people saw her. She has been very clever in her ability to live among us so quietly. She and her cubs have been relocated to the high mountains west of us, in hopes that she will find a den and settle in for the winter. She is a perfect example of the misconception that bears don't cross roads, as she crossed Hwy. 89 on a regular basis. Bertha is a 6 year old bear, who weighs in at 425 pounds. She is as large as many males. We had to get a tractor and a tarp to lift her into the air to weigh her. The twins are her first babies and they weigh140 and 150. They have been named John and Leanne, after my husband and me! |
 Notice the dart in Bertha's side |
 Bear management specialist Mike Madel and Bertha |
The little male is the heaviest cub Mike has recorded in his years working here on the Front. He is very familiar with Bertha, and has had to remove her from other situations. She is highly adapted to living among people, but he worries that she is a bit too familiar with us. She has been a visitor in our yard, more than once. He is quite certain that she will be back in the Spring, and her cubs too. Grizzly bears are very fond of sheep, so my husband spends a great deal of time using electric fences to keep them away. Every evening he locks our flock into a secure compound and he checks on them many times during the day, as they graze on our range and in our meadows. It can be frustrating, as we have more and more bears as the years pass. They are moving out onto the prairies in search of food, as it takes a lot of area to support one bear. Just imagine how much food it takes to support 425 pounds of muscle and enough fat to carry them through a long Montana winter! We have a very healthy population of them and wonder what the future holds for these huge, wild beasts that dominate the animal world. They are an awesome, dangerous, beautiful animal but conflict with man has become inevitable as they move into populated areas on the Rocky Mountain Front and out onto the Great Plains.
- L.H. |