Sow Grizzly Captured
Sow with twin cubs was trapped and removed from the Upper Green last week.
by Cris Paravicini

Last Tuesday, a six-year old grizzly sow and her 1 1/2 year old twin cubs were found eating a freshly-killed calf.

The calf, belonging to Dan Ingalls and Sons of Riverton, is the only livestock kill currently attributed to the sow.

Dave Moody of the Trophy Game Section of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Lander, reports that one of Ingall's sons and Merrill Nelson, a trapper for Wildlife Service were riding the Ingall's Gros Ventre cattle allotment on Tuesday, August 24, when they discovered the bear trio eating on the calf carcass. Mr. Nelson set a culvert trap, and on Thursday, August 26, the sow and one cub were caught. The second cub was captured the following night. On Saturday, August 28, the three grizzlies were transported to the upper end of Sunlight Basin, 70 miles north of Cody, Wyoming.

At the time of the grizzlies' release in Sunlight Basin, Mr. Moody said he and other officials were not aware that cattle were in the area. However, he says, "Because the trapping and transporting experience is so traumatic, bears, typically will not immediately begin depredating on livestock."

This particular sow is known as #270. In 1996 she had been captured and radio-collared as a research bear in the Dunoir drainage, north of Dubois. After she "dropped her collar," she hadn't been tracked until she resurfaced at the Ingall's kill site. Before being released in Sunlight Basin, #270, again, was fitted with a radio-collar.