Train kills grizzly bear

The Daily Inter Lake

A 500-pound grizzly bear has been hit and killed by a train on the west shore of Whitefish Lake, and a female grizzly caught in the Foothill Road area has been relocated.

The 7-year-old male bear's carcass was picked up by Tim Manley, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear manager, and BNSF Railway employees on July 3.

The bear was a transplant, originally captured near Simms last fall after getting into beehives along the Sun River. The bear was relocated to the Marias Pass area and it was last located in the Great Bear Wilderness last October.

On July 5, Manley captured the yearling female on private land near Krause Creek. He said the 120-pound bear had been getting into garbage and dog food in the Foothill Road and Echo Lake areas.

The same bear was captured several weeks ago in the same area and moved to the Wounded Buck Creek Area on the east slopes of the Swan Range, in hopes of reuniting the bear with its radio-collared mother.

This time the bear was moved farther north and released in the Whale Creek area of the North Fork Flathead River drainage.