Wandering sow griz astonishes biologists

A 20-year-old female grizzly bear that has wandered across Northwest Montana and the Idaho Panhandle has biologists talking.

Ethyl recently arrived at Glacier National Park, but it might be only a temporary visit — according to a satellite radio collar on her neck, she’s been roving across thousands of square miles in Montana and northern Idaho for the past two years.

According to an Aug. 11 transmission, she was about 12 miles southeast of Lake McDonald Lodge.

“She’s been in Glacier Park for the past month,” said Rick Mace, a grizzly bear research biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The first transmission of the year was received May 2 as Ethyl emerged from hibernation about five miles south of St. Regis, Mace said.

Biologists flew over her May 5 and found her practically “rock climbing” near Dry Creek. They snapped a photograph for proof as she climbed a steep, rocky hillside. Ethyl went on to spend June in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, Mace said.

Scientists don’t know exactly where she slept this past winter, Mace said. It could have been in the St. Joe River drainage.

Ethyl’s extraordinary wanderings were first reported in March after she traveled from the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir to the Panhandle National Forest in Idaho. She had gotten into trouble near Lake Blaine, approaching homes and eating apples in orchards and was relocated east of Hungry Horse Reservoir in September 2012.

After that, she started roaming across thousands of square miles. In mid-November 2013, Ethyl had made her way to the upper Coeur d’Alene River Basin in Idaho. In December, scientists flying overhead detected her just north of the Shoshone County Airport in Smelterville. By late December, scientists had lost track of her.

Mace said he’s never seen anything like it in his 30-year career.

“She’s absolutely an extraordinary mover for a female bear,” he said. “She just seems to have the wanderlust.”

Jamie Jonkel, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear management specialist in Missoula, was struck by Ethyl’s travels.

“For a female, it’s pretty cool,” he said. “Supposedly females don’t do that sort of thing — but boy she has.”

It’s not known why she travels so much, but it might be because she has lost her internal compass, Mace said. Her tracking collar is scheduled to fall off her in September 2015.

Born in 1994, Ethyl was named after the property owner where she was first captured by Montana wildlife officers in September 2006. Grizzly sows are capable of having cubs up to age 28 or 30, Mace said. Ethyl could easily find a mate in Glacier Park.

Mace said she appeared healthy during the observation flight back in May.

“She looked perfect,” Mace said.

While also doing some climbing, she was seen eating on the side of a mountain, Mace said.

“We’re into a world-class huckleberry year,” Mace said.

Glacier Park is a great place for Ethyl, he said. If she has been to the Park before, it wasn’t documented.

“It’s full of grizzlies,” he said, “and she can’t get into much trouble.”