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September 21, 2011 in Outdoors, Region
Officials euthanize geezer grizzly after barn raid
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — State wildlife officials have euthanized what they say may be the oldest male grizzly bear ever captured in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
Mike Madel, a grizzly bear management specialist for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, says the bear was between 24 and 27 years old.
The bear was captured Saturday after it broke into a barn south of Augusta. It was euthanized Monday at the FWP’s Bozeman laboratory.
Its teeth had worn down and decayed, making it difficult for the grizzly to fend for itself or forage. Madel tells the Great Falls Tribune that age and poor health probably prompted it to leave its usual habitat in search of food
Madel says that male grizzlies don’t often make it past 22 or 23. Female grizzlies typically live longer.
© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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metaline on September 21 at 9:25 a.m.
Jeremy Hill paid a $1000 fine for “euthanizing” a bear that was raiding his pig pen. But Fish and Game can do it for free to a bear raiding a barn?
Evil_vortex_of_Spokane_politic on September 21 at 9:28 a.m.
Jeremy Hill broke the law and it wasnt raiding anything. They should have jailed that provaricator.
and Montana is different from Idaho or cant you read a map?
BlondeSquawker on September 21 at 9:34 a.m.
Good one, Evil. ; )
lewis8457 on September 21 at 9:36 a.m.
Oldest ever so kill it? sure that shows our mentality.
Why not keep it in a zoo so it can just die of old age?
Nope if it is the biggest ever, oldest ever, only ever, we kill it.
metaline on September 21 at 9:54 a.m.
Lighten up Evil. It was a toungue and cheek remark.
Actually, Idaho or Montana doesn’t matter, it was U.S. Fish and Wildlife that cited him and called for prosecution. The state of Idaho said he was justified.
Mr. Hill felt his family was threatened. End of story.
ManleyPointer on September 21 at 10:04 a.m.
Since when is provarication a crime???
Evil_vortex_of_Spokane_politic on September 21 at 10:17 a.m.
No the end of the story is that he was GUILTY and paid a fine to escape prosecution and imprisonment.
Who knows what he imagined, he never testified under oath,..well unless your a mind reader..
remember dead bears dont tell no lies.
Evil_vortex_of_Spokane_politic on September 21 at 10:22 a.m.
and the real bottom line is. If he was truely innocent, then he should have taken it to trial or is this a condemnation of our system of justice?
metaline on September 21 at 10:31 a.m.
it is the prosecution’s job to prove guilt, not the other way around. They settled because they could not prove Mr. Hill was not firing on the bear to protect his family.
Let’s see, go to trial, high legal costs and the chance of a felony conviction, or pay a $1000 fine with no criminal conviction. I think I would take door number one.
ManleyPointer on September 21 at 11:20 a.m.
It is so typical of the divorced-from-reality mindset to make a statement like
“Oldest ever so kill it? sure that shows our mentality. Why not keep it in a zoo so it can just die of old age? Nope if it is the biggest ever, oldest ever, only ever, we kill it.”
What kind of simplistic, Sesame-Street world does someone like this live in? People who don’t understand even the most basic attributes of wild animals (such as the increased risk to people presented by elderly animals who are no longer able to care for themselves without attacking ‘soft targets’), usually also don’t realize their own ignorance and insist on parading it in embarrassingly public ways.
oneanddone on September 21 at 11:30 a.m.
Actually Metaline, it was the tight-ass US attorney based in Idaho who decided to prosecute. Likely one of those eastern liberals who never met a grizzly they didn’t want to pet.
And Manley, since when is provarication a word, much less a crime.
ManleyPointer on September 21 at 11:47 a.m.
Ask @evil; it’s his/her word. All I know is it’s not a crime, at least in this jurisdiction.
BlondeSquawker on September 21 at 11:51 a.m.
Manleythingy, now if we could only off those pesky old people as well.
ManleyPointer on September 21 at 12:06 p.m.
I’m sorry, to which “pesky old people” do you refer, b-squawker, and what relevance does that have to the subject being discussed?
BlondeSquawker on September 21 at 12:17 p.m.
“elderly animals who are no longer able to care for themselves without attacking ‘soft targets’),”
The same could be said for humans in nursing homes who no longer can care for themselves. We are animals, too. Unless, of course, you belong to the same church as soccermomsusie.
-just sayin’
metaline on September 21 at 2:32 p.m.
I’m just glad an honest man can get on with his life again Oneandone.
force_vector on September 21 at 4:22 p.m.
you guys sure get worked up about anything and everything.
-“just sayin’”
ManleyPointer on September 22 at 8:19 a.m.
Statements like “the same could be said for humans in nursing homes who no longer can care for themselves. We are animals, too” make absolutely no sense and preclude rational discussion of issues like this one.
This attitude illustrates the difficulty of implementing sensible wildlife management programs when so many members of the voting public have anthropomorphized animal species to the point that there is no distinction between human and non-human animals. It makes no sense to draw parallels between our treatment of aged grizzly bears and aged humans, yet people like b-squawker do it with alacrity to support their “arguments.”