BONNERS FERRY — An Idaho grizzly bear was shot and killed this week by a Montana hunter who mistook it for a black bear.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said the bear was shot and killed Tuesday near Smith Creek, which runs into the Kootenai River about 2½ miles south of the Canadian border.

After checking the harvested bear and realizing it was a grizzly, the hunter contacted Fish and Game and is cooperating with the investigation, biologist Kara Campbell of Fish and Game said.

The investigation will likely be conducted by officers from Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because grizzly bears are protected under both state and federal law.

The bear was an adult female with a radio collar used by biologists to monitor its movements. It was part of the Selkirk population, Campbell said, which includes approximately 60 grizzlies.

The bear was not hunted and killed over bait, Campbell said. Bear baiting is prohibited in the grizzly bear recovery area, which includes parts of Idaho’s northern Panhandle and northwestern Montana.

Campbell said hunting is at the forefront of biologists’ concerns when it comes to grizzly recovery.

“It’s the No. 1 concern on the population limits and recovery efforts on that population,” she said.

An increase in the number of grizzlies moving throughout North Idaho has prompted Fish and Game to post warnings to ensure hunters can identify grizzly bears.

“We tell people to look at the ears and snout,” Campbell said. “Grizzlies have a dish face and a shoulder hump.”

Hunters in a tree stand may see the large claws on a grizzly bear’s feet, she said.

Several bear sightings and human encounters have occurred in the Panhandle over the past few years.

A grizzly bear that raided chicken coops near Athol last year was shot and killed this spring after killing sheep north of Bonners Ferry, and a grizzly was documented in the Coeur d’Alene mountains northwest of Magee earlier this year.

A man who shot a grizzly bear north of Bonners Ferry in 2011 was fined $1,000, and a grizzly was shot near Cataldo 10 years ago after it killed a bull elk at an elk farm.

In 2015, a woman in Boundary County killed a 2-year-old male grizzly bear she said threatened her family.

A grizzly that walked through the Panhandle as it headed south last summer has been located in Idaho’s Selway Wilderness area near Lolo Pass.

Black bear hunters are responsible for proper identification of their target. Fish and Game’s website provides training to hone hunters’ bear identification skills.