Bear Research in Rising Waters

Rod Flynn and Lavern Beier of Fish and Game are doing brown bear research in the Unuk River. With a foot snare, they captured a 400 pound 12 yr old female. It was in a precarious position over the creek and they had to float the bear across the creek with rising waters and a strong current to work on her in a safer place.  It was like a rescue. Several bears were tagged radio collared last year and they are being recaptured in snares so their batteries can be replaced...all will drop off automatically in a couple of weeks.  They are tracking the bears movement and habitat use.  The bears captured on this trip had not been caught before.  It is presumed they are traveling through Canada (14 miles away) and back down so it is a complicated issue for hunting management. The Unuk which means Dream River in Tlingit, is a new river continuing to cut new channels.

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