Groups plan to sue Idaho over bear baiting after grizzly's death

Conservation organizations Monday sent a notice of intent to sue Idaho for violations of the Endangered Species Act over state hunting authorizations that put grizzly bears at risk, a press release said.

In June, a grizzly was killed by a hunter at a black bear bait station near St. Maries after being misidentified by Idaho Department of Game and Fish.

The incident demonstrates "the urgent need to reform the practice now that grizzly bears are beginning to return to Idaho on their journey to recovery," a press release said. 

“Bear baiting takes the lives of grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies and robs the wild of these remarkable animals,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at WildEarth Guardians. “The State of Idaho is putting grizzly bears in unacceptable peril, compromising their prospects of recovery and leading to tragic, preventable, illegal and all too predictable deaths, like the incident we witnessed last month in Saint Maries.”

The male grizzly bear was shot and killed June 10 near the Lower St. Joe River about 5 miles from the town of St. Maries, "an area not commonly used by grizzly bears," the release said.

A June 18 Fish and Game press release said that two days prior to the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear at the bait site and sent it to Fish and Game for review. 

"The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear," the release said. "Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly and shared that misidentification with the hunter."

Fish and Game posted two videos of the bear in question. The first, 46 seconds, showed what looked like a black bear wandering around. Then, a smallish brown bear enters the area and runs toward the black bear, which retreats. 

In the second video, 24 seconds, the brown bear walks around.

The Press filed a public records request with Idaho Fish and Game in regards to the incident. It sent The Press a text exchange between the hunter and Fish and Game,

"Let me know what u think. I'm sure it's a grizzly," the hunter wrote. 

In response, Fish and Game wrote:

"Im sorry it's a color phase black bear. I had two other officers look at the video as well. 

"Thanks for checking, always better to be safe about it! 

"I see what you're seeing on his shoulder, but the ears scream black bear. It flattens out later in the video too.

"That is a solid black bear, too bad he's all scraped up."

The hunter wrote back: "Ya his face looked like black bear but his claws were long maybe showed up better because of his color and no hair. Thanks glad I was wrong."

"Us too," Fish and Game responded, "we do not need griz in the Joe."

Most of Idaho’s grizzly bear populations are in the northern Panhandle area and the area in and around Yellowstone National Park in Eastern Idaho.

"But young male grizzlies may wander long distances and into areas where people don’t expect to encounter them," a Fish and Game release said. "These young male bears typically wander through an area, but don’t remain there."

The U.S. Forest Service reported that about 35-40 grizzly bears reside in the Selkirk Mountains with another 30-40 occupying the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Idaho and Montana.

Grizzly bears are protected under state and federal law, "and bear hunters are responsible for proper identification of their target," a Fish and Game release said. "All hunters are encouraged to review their bear identification skills to avoid mistaken identity."

Fish and Game could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Greg LeDonne, Idaho director of Western Watersheds Project, said Idaho is violating the Endangered Species Act when it issues licenses to black bear hunters to use bait sites in grizzly bear habitat.

“It puts grizzly bears at risk not just of being killed accidentally when they are mistaken for black bears, but of becoming habituated to human food sources and being killed when they display nuisance behavior," he said.

Dana Johnson, attorney and policy director with Wilderness Watch, said grizzly bears are making their way home across Idaho after "decades of persecution."

“Rather than celebrating their return and doing everything possible to ensure their safe passage and existence, Idaho continues to sanction the luring and killing of black bears in areas where grizzly bears live and travel," Johnson said in the release. "The recent killing of a grizzly bear by a black bear hunter was tragic and completely preventable. We’re submitting this notice of intent to sue to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Notice of Intent to Sue gives the state 60 days before the groups file a lawsuit. Western Environmental Law Center sent the letter on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater.