Grizzly bear sow shot north of C-Falls

An investigation is underway in the shooting death of a grizzly bear sow in a residential area just north of Columbia Falls.

According to an eyewitness, the sow and its one-year-old cub were seen in the area  along the North Fork Road several times during the first week of November.

When a Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear manager responded to the scene, one of the nearby residents allegedly said he had been charged by the sow, that it broke into his garage, and that he had shot his gun to scare it off.

The eyewitness said FWP then set traps for the two bears in early November without success. About a week later, the eyewitness said he saw what he thought was the cub but not the sow.

He called FWP again, and the bear manager asked him to measure the bear’s footprints in the snow. It was while he was measuring the footprints that he first saw the head of a bear low to the ground on an adjacent property.

Figuring the bear was laying down to rest or sleep, the eyewitness let it go for a day. But when the figure of the bear hadn’t moved by the next day, he called FWP again. The bear manager arrived and confirmed that it was the dead sow. Traps were set again, and the cub was captured the next day.

A state game warden and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent in Great Falls were contacted, and an investigation is underway.