Bear raids continue in county
BONNERS FERRY — Boundary County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday that an unknown bear had raided an unsecured pig food storage near Three Mile Junction at 7:17 p.m.
A trap has been set by Idaho Department of Fish & Game officials to try and catch the bear.
The report is the second bear sighting in less than a week and follows a report on the Fourth of July that a young grizzly bear had damaged a chicken coop and feeder in the Three Mile Junction.
“A grizzly bear’s hearing is good, but the most important sense for a bear is its sense of smell,” Idaho Fish & Game officials noted. “A grizzly bear’s nose is about 1,000 times more developed than a human’s nose. Bears remember where food and places are by how the place smells.
The recent reports are the latest in a series of NIXLE alerts sent to Boundary County residents about problem bears in the community.
In May, a NIXLE alert was sent to Boundary County residents about a young grizzly bear in the Porthill area which had caused extensive damage to an unprotected beehive. In May 2019, Darcy and Mandy Lammers experienced livestock loss due to a grizzly bear which killed lambs, and a few miles away from the Lammers’ ranch, another resident lost some sheep.
The grizzly bear is listed as endangered on the endangered species list and is a protected animal. Grizzlies cannot be killed by residents for nuisance issues such as livestock attacks or property loss.
The Kootenai tribal office has been hosting meetings to discuss a way in which a community alert system could be created and initiated prior to the bears waking for the summer from hibernation. Among the ideas discussed were bear alerts via the NIXLE system.
The NIXLE system is administered by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. NIXLE is a service that allows verified government agencies to send messages to residents who have subscribed to the system. It is free of charge.
Protocols for reporting of observed bears were discussed in late February during the grizzly bear subcommittee meetings held on behalf of the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative group.
“If you have a black bear getting into mischief, we would like to deal with that,” said Brian Johnson, conservation officer for Idaho Fish and Game. “It might be a black bear today, but if there’s a problem at that homesite we want to deal with it before it’s a grizzly bear at that homesite.”
Idaho Fish and Game would like to help those households that are having issues with black bears, or grizzly bears, in mitigating the circumstance of the contacts and limiting the attractants if able to do so.
Johnson explained there are more human injuries due to other animals, more so than bears.
The general consensus at the February meeting was agreement with the usage of NIXLE in getting the information to those residents who have subscribed to the public alert system.
The first grizzly bear NIXLE alert for 2020 was sent to subscribers on May 26 at 3:21 p.m. concerning a young grizzly bear in the Porthill area.
“The Nixle report went out,” said Rhonda Vogl, KVRI facilitator. “The program is working!”
If community members see a bear or are having problems with a bear, they are urged to contact the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office at 208-267-3151, who will disseminate the information.
The NIXLE service for weather alerts, emergencies, road issues, wildfires, accidents, etc. can be accessed by texting the ZIP code where you would like information to 888-777; for Boundary County, use the 83805 or 83853 ZIP code.