We’re learning more about a plan by the federal government to re-introduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades Ecosystem in Washington State.
Cowboy State Daily reports the US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to tranquilize grizzlies in the wild, then place them in a heavy-duty net. The grizzlies would then be tethered under a helicopter in a giant net and flown to Washington and released. Grizzly bears from Wyoming state are reportedly still being considered for this re-homing program.
After the drugged-out flight, the weary grizzly is almost ready for its new home.
“At the release location, the bear is carefully placed on the ground surface, where a ground crew awaits to untether the animal, check the bear’s vital signs and prepare it for release by reversing the chemical immobilization drug,” Federal bear biologist Frank van Manen said. “Clearly, very careful planning is essential to ensure the safety of the animal and personnel.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies have said that air-dropping bears will likely be the preferred method of getting new grizzlies to remote locations in Washington’s North Cascades Ecosystem.
The federal government recently green-lighted the program to re-introduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades. The decision came after many years of planning and speculation about where the bears who populate the region will come from. That issue has not been made clear by federal agencies and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
In fact, Cowboy State Daily reports The Wyoming Game and Fish Department hasn’t yet been involved in any of USFWS’s North Cascades grizzly reintroduction plans according to Game and Fish large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson.
van Manen said that, to his knowledge, “options are still being evaluated” regarding where the reintroduced grizzlies might come from.
He’s the supervisory research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. The team tracks and monitors grizzlies throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Helicopter transport will probably be used for the final stages of the bears’ relocation into the North Cascades, according to joint record of decision document from the USFWS, National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.
Bears would be transported first by truck and trailer from their original capture sites to staging areas, according to the document.
“Grizzly bears will be transported from the staging area as soon as possible by helicopter and will likely remain at the staging areas for only a few hours, depending on weather and helicopter availability,” the document states.
How a grizzly’s chopper ride might go can vary, van Manen said.
But the bears won’t be placed inside the aircraft’s cabin (which is likely a relief for pilots and flight crews).
And parachutes aren’t involved either, van Manen said.
“Indeed, it is a little different than parachuting bears. A lot of details would need to be worked out, and I don’t know which exact procedures would be used for any planned releases of grizzly bears in the North Cascades,” he said.
As things stand, tethering grizzlies under choppers is the federal agencies’ preferred option. And moving bears with helicopters is nothing new. The National Park Service has file photos of grizzlies in Yellowstone being slung in strong nets under a chopper in 1970.
Explaining how that works, van Manen said sedatives are involved (for the grizzlies, not the crews).
“Another option is for a captured bear to be moved to a staging area, where it is chemically immobilized, placed in a heavy-duty net or other holding device, and tethered to a helicopter for transport to the release site,” he said.
After the drugged-out flight, the weary grizzly is almost ready for its new home.
“At the release location, the bear is carefully placed on the ground surface, where a ground crew awaits to untether the animal, check the bear’s vital signs and prepare it for release by reversing the chemical immobilization drug,” van Manen said. “Clearly, very careful planning is essential to ensure the safety of the animal and personnel.”
