The Idaho Department of Fish and Game says its staff misidentified a grizzly bear as a black bear two days before a hunter killed it.
“Fish and Game regrets the mistake made by its staff, the undue stress the situation caused for the hunter and the loss of the grizzly bear. Fish and Game is reviewing its staff’s role in the incident as a matter of personnel,” said a press release.
The male grizzly bear was shot and killed on June 10 near Lower St. Joe River about 5 miles from the town of St. Maries, “an area not commonly used by grizzly bears,” the release said.
Fish and Game issued a press release on the incident on June 14. It stated that “the hunter shot and killed a subadult male grizzly bear that he mistook for a black bear.”
“After identifying the bear at the scene as a grizzly, the hunter contacted Idaho Fish and Game and cooperated with the investigation,” the release said.
The hunter was given a warning, Fish and Game said. The shooting took place at a bait site.
On Tuesday, a Fish and Game press release said that two days before the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear at the bait site and sent it to Fish and Game for review.
“The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear,” the release said. “Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common characteristics of a grizzly and shared the false identity with the hunter.”
TJ Ross, Fish and Game spokesman for the Panhandle Region, said information about the hunter sending video to Fish and Game before the shooting was not included in the initial release because they were still verifying what happened.
Fish and Game posted two videos of the bear in question. The first, 46 seconds, shows what appears to be a black bear roaming around. Then, a small brown bear entered the area and ran towards the black bear, who was retreating.
In the second video, 24 seconds in, the brown bear is walking around.
Ross said Fish and Game wanted to release some information while knowing it would follow up later.
“We want to make sure we have all the facts,” Ross said.
He said the hunter took steps to correctly identify the bear by sending the video to Fish and Game, which Ross said mistakenly said it was a black bear.
“We’re taking ownership of our part of it,” Ross said.
But, he said ultimately, the responsibility of identifying a target before pulling the trigger rests with the hunter.
“We weren’t there in person looking at the bear,” Ross said.
Environmental groups have denounced the practice of hunting bears for bait and a recent decision by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals related to that type of hunting.
“Now we are faced with this incredible situation – where baiting for black bears is allowed in the grizzly habitat of the state of Idaho and is authorized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the federal court, which has no way of holding anyone accountable for killing an endangered grizzly as a result,” said Jeff Juel of the Friends of the Clearwater in a press release. “The State of Idaho says grizzly bears should be removed from the federal Endangered Species list because they can manage the species, but this incident proves they are completely ineligible.”
The groups, which include WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater, lost their appeal in the Ninth Circuit court this week, upholding a lower court’s decision that ended bear-baiting in the Idaho and Wyoming national forests will not harm the federally-protected grizzly bear.
According to Fish and Game, most of Idaho’s grizzly bear populations are in the northern Panhandle and the area in and around Yellowstone National Park in eastern Idaho.
“But young grizzlies can wander long distances and into places where people don’t expect to encounter them. These young bears usually wander somewhere, but don’t stay there,” said release.
Grizzly bears are protected under state and federal law, “and bear hunters are responsible for the proper identification of their target,” the release said. “All hunters are encouraged to review their bear identification skills to avoid false identification.”
Animal size and color are not reliable indicators of species; black bears can be brown, and grizzly bears can be black. It’s best to look at multiple features to make the right call. Grizzly bears typically have short, rounded ears, a dished facial profile, a prominent shoulder hump and 2- to 4-inch-long claws.
