Charges uncertain in killing of grizzly

LEWISTON – State and federal wildlife officials remain uncertain whether they will pursue criminal charges against a Tennessee hunter who killed a grizzly bear last week.

Hunting with an outfitter in a remote area near Kelly Creek, three miles from the Montana border, the man shot the grizzly after mistaking it for a black bear. The hunter and guide reported the kill to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in the Clearwater Region of north-central Idaho was in 1946, officials said.

Dave Cadwallader, the state’s regional fish and game supervisor, says he sympathized with the hunter, considering the extended absence of grizzlies in the Clearwater National Forest. The identity of the hunter has not been released.

Future grizzly kills may not be treated with the same leniency, Cadwallader said.

“We know they are here, and we are going to have to be super careful,” he told the Lewiston Tribune.

In April the Fish and Wildlife Service lifted Endangered Species Act protections for grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park, but the grizzly was not part of that population and therefore was still under federal protection.

The chance that other grizzlies may be in the region now or in the future could provoke changes in land management and hunting regulations. State and federal officials intend to meet later this week to discuss the matter.

One likely result, they said, is renewed emphasis on helping hunters and outfitters distinguish between grizzly and black bears, which are open to hunting. State officials estimate as many as 350 black bears are taken annually by hunters in the upper Clearwater River basin, where bear baiting is allowed.

“Bear baiting has to be reviewed. We don’t allow bear baiting and hound hunting in areas with active grizzly bear programs in Montana and Idaho,” said Steve Nadeau, large-carnivore manager for the state agency.

On Monday the environmental group Friends of the Clearwater requested that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service insist on bear identification training for outfitters and hunters.