Grizzly Bear Relocated Near Dubois
According to a press release, following consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured and relocated a sub adult male grizzly bear on Sunday.
The bear was captured while lowering cattle depredation near Pinedale and then relocated to the Long creek drainage approximately 14 miles northwest of Dubois.
Relocation of grizzly bears are a management tool done to minimize conflicts between humans and grizzly bears and is used for managing their population, and Game and Fish attempt to capture bears as a last resort.
Once captured, all circumstances are taken into account to determine if the animal should be relocated or removed from the population.
If relocation is needed, the specific relocation site is determined using a variety of factors, including potential human activity near the relocation site, as was the case with this grizzly bear, which was chosen because of the lack of a nearby human presence and the ability to release the bears several miles behind closed gates.
Bears that are deemed an immediate threat to human safety are not released back into the wild and relocation is done in accordance with state and federal law and regulation.