Nuisance Grizzly Bear Had Been Injured By Arrow

A nuisance grizzly bear, shot and killed by state game wardens last week near Condon, recently had been wounded by an arrow, a wildlife official said Monday.

Wardens shot the animal last Wednesday after it had been seen repeatedly near homes and near the Condon school, said warden Capt. Ed Kelly in Kalispell.

Wardens examined the bear after shooting it and discovered the arrow in its side, Kelly said.

The female grizzly had a history of problems with humans. It was moved to the North Fork of Lost Creek last fall from the Rocky Mountain front near Choteau, where it had killed sheep.

Kelly said his department withheld details after the bear was shot last week because wounding the bear with an arrow is an illegal act that is under investigation.

Earlier, the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife paid a Condon rancher $150 for a calf killed by the troublesome bear in June.

Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly specialist Tim Manley said the calf incident was the first confirmed stock killing by a grizzly on the west side of the mountains in at least five years.

The young sow evidently had picked up its stock-killing habits on the Rocky Mountain front. The bear was trapped there last year after killing sheep. Authorities hauled it to the headwaters of Lost Creek and released it on the west side of the Continental Divide to give it a second chance.

But because it repeatedly had killed stock, authorities decided to destroy the bear.