Grizzly Bear Trapping in Yellowstone National Park: Scientists to Collect Tissue Samples

Yellowstone National Park is getting its bears back after their winter-long hibernation. Park visitors have already reported seeing grizzly bears for more than a month. Now, scientists with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team are planning to sample a few of the bears for their research.

Grizzlies are the largest bears in the lower 48 states. Unlike the black bear, the grizzly bear is actually a North American subspecies of the brown bear. Able to grow anywhere between five and eight feet and weigh as much as 800 pounds, these massive bears can spell trouble for hikers if they don't know what to do during a grizzly encounter. In fact, at the end of July in 2010, a female grizzly with her three cubs attacked three different tents near Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the night. The attack left one camper dead and two injured, according to National Geographic.

This particular encounter is unusual, though. Most grizzlies strive to stay away from humans and will usually only attack if provoked. In order to learn more about these bears, researchers are hoping to trap them. Starting today, June 3, researchers will begin their efforts. They plan to lure the bears in with road-killed deer and elk. They will then collect tissue samples and measurements from the bears before fixing them with radio collars and then releasing them, according to Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

These radio collars will particularly help scientists to track these bears--an important factor considering that grizzly-human interactions are on the rise.  Over the years, humans have encroached on grizzly bear habitat, pushing populations of the animals further into the mountains and more isolated forests, according to National Geographic. Yet climate change appears to be affecting grizzly bear range. The white bark pine, whose seeds are an important food source for the bears, is quickly declining. This, in turn, has caused grizzlies to descend to lower elevations in search for food--and increases the chance of encounters with humans.

In order to decrease the chance of human encounters while trapping these grizzlies, the researchers have placed trap sites far away from established backcountry trails and campsites. In addition, they're posting warning signs around the sites in order to deter hikers. With these precautions and with the new radio collars, scientists should be able to learn more about the bears and protect both them and humans.