Two young female grizzly bears captured June 26 in the Whitefish Range were relocated to the Cabinet Mountains as part of a grizzly bear population augmentation program.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks captured the two 2-year-old grizzly bears in Deadhorse Creek in the Whitefish Range. The bears are siblings and were captured in the backcountry. The bears have no history of conflict with humans and have never been captured before.

They were released above Spar Lake in the Kootenai National Forest.

This program is an on-going effort to boost and recover the grizzly bear population in the Cabinet Mountains.

All grizzly bears relocated to the Cabinets are monitored with a radio collar until their collars drop off.

The relocation of these female grizzly bears marks the 12th and 13th grizzly bears to be released into the Cabinet Mountains since 2005.