Starving Bears Cause Problems for Officials

Two starving bear cubs and their mother recently put wildlife officials in a difficult situation when they were caught after raiding a chicken coop and startling a horse in Montana.

Once the cubs were examined at a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks lab, biologists discovered that the cubs were 15 to 40 pounds underweight, while their mother was described in fair condition.

While relocating the bear family would mean they would survive the fall, it is thought that the bear cubs would starve during the winter months. However, even though the option to kill the cubs now is possible, the decision of this would ultimately see a huge outcry with citizens expressing their views that the cubs should be given the chance to survive in the wild.

What is making matters worse is the fact that bears located in the Yellowstone area are dying at a fast pace. In 2008, there were 48 known bear deaths, while in 2010 there have been 37 so far recorded. If officials killed the two cubs, that number would only rise to 39 before the hunting season for big-game starts in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

However, while there is not a hunting season on bears, there is the problem of surprise encounters between bears and hunters. When hunters have successful hunts of other game such as deer and elk they usually leave tons of remains from the animals behind which produces an appetizing smell to many bears.

When these encounters happen hunters quickly employ this firearms and shoot the bears in self defense.

Of course anti-hunters and environmentalists claim that bear spray is the ideal alternative to firearms; however the preferred technique to employing this self defense device is to use both hands. But hunters aren’t able to have both hands free when they are seen carrying a rifle with them.

The mother bear and her cubs were recently relocated in Yellowstone National Park, but while the mother bear is wearing a radio-collar, it won’t be known until next spring whether or not her cubs survived the winter months.

If they prove missing, the cubs will be recorded in 2011, and not 2010.