Well, it isn’t a typical Thursday afternoon.
A small brown bear was touring my southeast neighborhood just a couple hours ago!
She came through my backyard as I was eating lunch on my patio (in the area of Bozeman just south of the university campus and Museum of the Rockies), so I immediately called the local Fish Wildlife, and Parks game warden captain to ask that a game warden be dispatched. The response from FWP was outstanding; the first game warden arrived in 8-10 minutes, just as the bear crossed South Third Avenue and walked through the backyards of homes on Westridge Drive. She investigated a duck pond, the trail to Bobcat Stadium (which I walk every game day; I’ve done stats for home football games for 28 years!). The bear was cornered by the Western Transportation Institute building, and then took a trail back into some bushes. She worked her way through some hedges and backyards and trash cans, and with the help of another FWP truck and two more FWP personnel, a short while later the little brown bear was treed and safely tranquilized. The Game Warden sergeant called to tell me shell be relocated to a safer place (for her, and for the public!) soon.
I am so impressed with the efforts and professionalism and compassion of the people at Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and I’m so glad that this situation was successfully and quickly resolved.
I’ve served on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee in two of my three terms in the House of Representatives, and I really appreciate the science-based policies of Montana FWP. Conversations at the capitol during a legislative session can get a bit heady, but every once in a while, there’s a real-life, on-the-ground experience to remind us why Montana is such a great place to live, and why FWP is a wonderful state agency that helps Montana wildlife and the people who love them.
And now, the photographic evidence of today’s excitement:
