A grizzly bear was euthanized last week in the Haskill Basin area near Whitefish after getting into trash bins. 

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wildlife Conflict Specialist Justine Vallieres, the grizzly was flipping bear-resistant dumpsters and breaking into sheds. The adult male was roughly 7 to 9 years old. 

"As an adult male, he has a huge range," Vallieres said. "Where can I relocate him that he's not going to come back?... They know home and they want to go home." 

Vallieres said bear relocations are decided on a case-by-case basis, considering aggression, age and prior conflict. Killing an animal is the last resort and is the worst part of the job, she said.  

"But when it gets to that level of human safety, my hands are tied. I can't do anything at that point," she said. "I'm always pushing prevention and holding people accountable, first and foremost."  

Vallieres urged people to call Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as soon as they observe a bear conflict.  

"It's better I know about it sooner rather than later," she said. "The issue is securing attractants. I'm a bear conflict specialist, but my job is 90% human management."  

Bears have been highly visible on Big Mountain this year. The state wildlife agency has relocated nine bears off Big Mountain and is closely following 13 others.  

"Help conserve our bears by keeping attractants secured, for that long-term solution," Vallieres said. "Relocation is a band-aid solution." 

Bird feeders, fertilizers, toiletries, petroleum-based products and generally "smelly" things are all attractants, Vallieres said.  

Feeding deer has also been a problem in the Whitefish area, she said. The food attracts bears and the deer attract mountain lions.  

Conflicts have gone down in Whitefish city limits since the implementation of bear resistant garbage cans, but that's not the case for communities on Big Mountain, outside of city limits. 

Bear conflict management has been challenging on Big Mountain with the number of rental properties and construction, where the owners may be unaware of bear issues and/or difficult to contact. 

"There's really nowhere else in the lower 48 that has the density of both black bears and grizzlies that we have here in northwest Montana," Vallieres reminded.  

THERE HAVE been five reported grizzly mortalities in Flathead County and 22 across the state this year. 

There have been several livestock conflict removals, primarily near Carbon County. Five have been killed by cars and three deaths are under investigation.  

Last year, Montana documented 32 grizzly mortalities with six in the Flathead. In 2024, Montana had 29 documented deaths with four in the Flathead. 

Last year the state released its third online bear dashboard to help keep the public informed. The dashboards on bear mortality, relocation and conflict provide insight into where and why conflicts are occurring.  

This year, there have been 44 relocations including black bears and grizzlies. There have been 111 grizzly conflicts documented across the state; 41 from unnatural foods and 40 from human interactions. 

The dashboards were released in conjunction with the state finalizing a grizzly bear management plan in 2024. The release of the plan wrapped up an extensive public process analyzing how the state intends to manage the species after it is turned over to state management, which the federal government proposed to do last week.  

For more information see https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/grizzly-bears.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Region 1 office can be reached at 406-752-5501.

Editor Kelsey Evans can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.