Black bear slays six sheep up Greys River.
Rumors have been circling the valley for several days about a possible grizzly bear in Greys River dining on sheep. There is both some truth and some misinformation in the discussions that have been talking place.

According to Zach Turnbull, bear manager for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, a bear or two have been making meals of mutton over the last few weeks. However, the perpetrators are black bears.

“We’ve had around nine sheep reported killed by one or two different black bears,” said Turnbull. “The damage has been done over the last three weeks. The local game warden, Todd Graham, and I are working on it.”

According to Turnbull, the process for reporting livestock that has been killed by wildlife is pretty straightforward. Usually the incidents are reported by herders to the producer and the producer in turn notifies wildlife officials. Sometimes wildlife officials discover livestock kills and report them as well.

“The producer will be reimbursed for the loss of these sheep as it is evident that they are bear kills,” said Turnbull.

According to information provided by the Game and Fish, once livestock kills are reported the next step is to investigate the carcass for evidence of what killed the animal.

“We investigate to determine if it was a trophy game animal that did the damage,” said Turnbull. “When the cause of death is determined then we work out what needs to be done.”

In isolated cases, where only one or two sheep or cattle are killed and predators do not return, livestock herds are moved with the hope that further incidents will not occur.

In cases such as what has been happening up Greys River over the past three weeks, the answer may be to relocate the problem bears. The Game and Fish are working toward that end with the black bear(s) in Greys River. The current plan is to capture and remove the bears from the area.

According to Turnbull, bear removal is a challenge.

“Many of those sheep are in pretty remote areas,” said Turnbull. “They are in areas where it is difficult to get a helicopter down and most pack horses will not pack out a live bear.”

In the event that the problem bear(s) cannot successfully be removed, the Game and Fish will consider terminating them.