Bye bye black bear: Worden black bear safely relocated

A young black bear needed some help flying the nest Monday.

Crews had to evict a subadult black bear Monday night who’d curled up under the porch of a property in Worden. Yellowstone County deputies and troopers with Montana Highway Patrol assisted members of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in making sure the ursine intruder didn’t make a break for it. Game wardens managed to tranquilize the animal and transport him out of the area, with no injuries to the bear or people.

“It’s fortunate things ended as well as it did,” said FWP’s Regional Communication and Education Program Manager Chrissy Webb, “especially for a situation where you have a black bear that’s underneath a porch.”

Game wardens estimated the bear’s age at around 3 years, Webb said, and it had recently separated from its mother. Because there wasn’t any evidence that the bear had accessed unnatural food sources like garbage or dog food, she said it was an easy decision just to tranquilize the animal and relocate it.

“If there were indications of him accessing unnatural food sources,” Webb said, “it may have ended different.”

On Tuesday, FWP had to euthanize a black bear in Beavertail Hill State Park near Missoula that had become habituated to people and remained in the area for food.

Unlike grizzly bears, which have their own relocation process due to their status as a federally protected species, Webb said there are several preapproved sites across the state for FWP to release captured black bears.

On Monday, game wardens drugged the black bear without incident, then moved the animal into a culvert trap for transportation. Although relocating bears in Yellowstone County is rare, Webb said black bears have a range across most of Montana.

From 2022 through 2025, FWP relocated an average of 40 bears a year, according to data from the department. FWP also provides tips for storing garbage, food and livestock to avoid bear encounters on its website.

On Thursday, FWP members will be in Billings for a bear safety presentation that will include information on using bear spray. The presentation will be at 5:30 p.m. at the Base Camp on Grand Avenue.