Problem bears evade capture in Seeley Lake area

SEELEY LAKE - Since early last week, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel said that he has received multiple reports showcasing bears with "extreme food conditioned behavior" in the Seeley Lake area.

One is a small, dark black bear that was seen entering two homes in the Double Arrow area twice. Another medium, cinnamon-phase black bear had been seen in the Big Larch, Lake Alva and Lake Inez campgrounds.

Jonkel said FWP set two culvert traps on a Double Arrow property and at Lake Alva campground. Without success, both have been removed. Jonkel said for now they will keep an eye out should either of the bears return.

The genders of the black bears are currently unknown. He estimates that they received eight to 10 incident reports for the campground bear and four for the Double Arrow one.

Bears that enter homes are likely to be euthanized.

"Once we have a bear that enters a home site, we really have no choice," he said. "Even if it's someone that leaves the doors open or leaves a window open, that's a line that can't be crossed. Same with bears that enter tents, we usually put them down. If bears are accessing garbage in the backs of trucks, that kind of thing, we cut them slack there. And we try to work with the people to stop that kind of behavior."

Jonkel said this issue mostly originates from garbage inside trucks parked outside.

"The incident in Ovando should be a major wake up call for the town of Seeley Lake," he said. "Compared to Ovando, I would say that Seeley Lake is 1,000 times worse in terms of bear attractants. Grizzlies, lions, black bears that are not food conditioned ... pass through the community on a weekly basis. So Seeley is a behavioral trap for bears in that Seeley is a training ground for these bears that are passing through town."

He said since May, Seeley Lake had seen continual issues with black bears as well as a grizzly bear coming into town. The grizzly did not get into anything but it was seen checking out dumpsters near the Ice Cream Place and the Chicken Coop.

"Seeley Lake is a non-stop issue, has been forever," he said. "In fact, I would have to say the majority of the problem bears that we have in the entire Blackfoot start up in Seeley. If you look at all the habitat in the entire valley, Seeley Lake is the primest and every bear that comes near Seeley is learning what garbage is, what bird feeders are, what deer blocks are, what hummingbird feeders are. People that still have hummingbird feeders and bird feeders up in Seeley Lake, you know they deserve a Darwin award."

Jonkel believes the main approach to this issue should be a community wide effort addressing exposed garbage.

"We need to get the community to rally around [this]," he said. "And we can't be done unless the community ... [gets] the Community Council involved and [says] to everyone, like, 'We've got a situation here in Seeley that is getting worse and worse and we need to get a handle on our garbage situation here.'"

He said that FWP has been dealing with bear attractants for years.

"We've been preaching the same words, the same speech, the same messaging ... since I've been here for 22 years," he said. "And we've made some headway, but it's still ... [it's] like water off a duck's back."

Jonkel recommends that community members who are interested in addressing this issue call him at (406) 544-1447 or (406) 542-5500. Those who witness a bear should report any incident to http://missoulabears.org.

"That's the best one because it comes to us 24 hours a day," he said. "I have a lot of people looking at the community site, and they usually let me know, but sometimes things slip by and I won't know that a bear has done something heinous."