Posted on 10/27/2022 5:39:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Any killing of a grizzly bear in Wyoming must be reported immediately and will trigger a federal investigation into whether the killing was legitimate self-defense, a wildlife official said.
There have been two reported grizzly attacks in Wyoming in the past month. And in one of the incidents, the victim claimed to have hit the bear with several handgun rounds, possibly wounding or killing it.
If a grizzly is killed, the first call made should be to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the agency’s large carnivore expert, Dan Thompson, told Cowboy State Daily.
“As with any conflicts between grizzly bears and people, we want the person(s) involved to call us at Game and Fish as soon as possible so we can respond immediately and appropriately,” he said. “Human safety is always our top priority, so in the instances of self-defense we want to first make sure any people involved are OK and then assess each situation based on the details of what happened.”
Threat Assessment
Game and Fish agents also need to assess the nature of the attack to determine if the bear or bears involved might still be a threat to public safety, he said.
“Our department has a predator attack team with personnel specifically trained to deal with these types of scenarios from start to finish,” he said.
There have been two grizzly attacks in Wyoming this month. Two members of the Northwest College wrestling team were attacked by a bear outside of Cody on Oct. 15.
Lee Francis of Evanston said he acted in self-defense when he fired his 10 mm Glock pistol at a grizzly during an attack Friday in the Gro Ventre mountains.
Francis Told Cowboy State Daily that he’s sure he hit the bear, probably with multiple bullets. Thompson said there was no evidence at the scene to indicate the bear had been seriously injured or killed.
Hefty Fines, Prison Time
Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho remain under federal protection. So, agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be called to investigate a bear killing and to help determine if it was self-defense or illegal.
It’s legal to kill a grizzly in self-defense, according to federal regulations. However, deliberately killing a grizzly illegally or without just cause can bring a maximum penalty of a $50,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
Idaho Men Poached Griz
In a recent case in Idaho, two men were hit with stiff penalties after authorities determined they’d unlawfully killed a radio-collared grizzly bear in the Little Warm River area of that state.
The bear’s carcass was discovered half submerged in water April 9, 2021, according to the Idaho Fish and Game Department and East Idaho News.
X-rays later revealed the grizzly had been shot at least 12 times, according to reports.
Earlier this year, plea agreements were reached with a father and son charged in the case. Jared Baum pleaded guilty to a felony charge. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation. He was fined $12,500 and lost his hunting privileges for life.
His father, Rex Baum, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to three days in jail, fined $1,400 and lost his hunting privileges for 10 years, according to reports.
US Fish and Wildlife is one of the bigger grifts in fedgov.
I've seen their equipment yards - all the brand-new toys you'd want to play with.
Scumbags.
Wasn’t this a sub-plot during the first season of “Yellowstone”?
Neither is burying it by hand. Good point about the radio collar, though.
Nephew was fishing in CT a few years ago and a large black bear approached him; he shot and killed it with his (legal) handgun, reported it immediately, and was arrested for killing the bear. Cost a lot of legal fees but he did get off - prosecution said the bear wasn’t close enough to count as a threat (defined as 15 yards), defense said if it was close enough to be killed with one handgun round it was close enough to be a threat.
but in montana, you can shoot husky by mistake if you were hunting for wolves.
https://nypost.com/2022/09/27/montana-woman-kills-skins-husky-after-mistaking-it-for-wolf/
Must be Upper Darby you’re referring to ...
Nothing in the constitution about the department. And I haven’t read any history where an amendment was passed to allow the federal gov to have such a department.
Upper Darby is a dump now. Signs in all differing foreign languages.
The homies acting like they’re from Mogadishu.
Women wearing those “full Ninja” dress things.
Almost all whites have moved away.
It used to be white blue collar, now it’s garbage.
My mom went to Prendie.
fixed it.
They're like the State operatives mentioned by Solzhenisyn in his famous "How we burned in the camps later..." quote.
Black Bears Matter.
I’m for killing the bears.
Was born there myself, grandparents lived in Secane. Most all of it has gone to shit.
I was born in Lankenau Hospital and we lived in Drexel Hill.
I’m sorry. I’d kill the bear first and worry about jail time later. The other way around usually doesn’t end well.
Years ago, a guy in Montana was attacked by a grizzly bear on his own land.
He killed the bear in order to save himself and received a fine of $4,000 from the feds.
And then they wonder why so many people are pissed off with the government.
A small farm/ranch had a grizzly wander onto the the property. Proceeded to menace the horses in a corral. The family children were in the vicinity.
The father came out armed and the grizzly wouldn't back off so he shot it, killing it.
His mistake was he used his back hoe to bury the bear on his property. The bear had a radio collar.
In a few weeks a team from the F&G showed up. Since the bear had a radio collar they were tracked. When the collar stopped moving it was investigated. They found the bear and the rancher who thought he did nothing wrong was reamed in the court system
End result 10’s of thousands of $$$$ later for a lawyer the rancher ended up paying beau coupe big bucks to stay out of jail and had to pay $$$$ in fines.
Lesson learned remove the radio collar if any and dispose of it in such a way as to not have it point back to you.
“What about Chupacabra”
I’d try to wound it and then call George Noory
Missouri has a bear season.
Eight bears were taken this summer...
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