Orphaned Cubs Sent To Private Zoo

Two grizzly bear cubs, orphaned when their mother was shot, are on their way to a private educational zoo in California, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Wednesday.

The placement, worked out by the department’s grizzly bear management specialist Kevin Frye, saved the 90-pound cubs from being killed. They could not be relocated to the wild because their mother got them accustomed to foraging among residential areas here in northwestern Montana.

Kirk Giroux of Coram shot the 350-pound sow to death when she surprised him in his yard the night of Nov. 12. Deputy County Attorney Ed Corrigan said Giroux feared for his life and would not face state charges for killing a protected species.

“Under the circumstances, he had some reasonable fears,” Corrigan said.

Federal agents are still investigating. Grizzlies are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The cubs were captured and sent to a holding pen in Bozeman.

They are being sent to Wildlife Waystation, a privately funded educational zoo north of Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest. It provides public tours for thousands of students each year.

The sow and cubs had foraged among yards, gardens and orchards in the Flathead Valley east of here for a month, eventually turning to garbage and livestock food.