Two
hair samples that were collected from a site just east of Chesaw (NE Okanogan
County) in May 2003 have been genetically verified as grizzly bear by an
independent wildlife genetics company.
[The
following text was taken from a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
press release that was written prior to the DNA results being released. For
the full version, click here]
"It
is unusual, but not unheard of, for grizzlies to be sighted almost anywhere
within their historic range in the upper half of Washington, particularly from
the North Cascades to the Selkirk Mountains," said Scott Fitkin, District
Wildlife Biologist with WDFW.
"We
have had occasional sightings of grizzlies reported throughout the Okanogan
Highlands, which is the part of the county east of the Okanogan River.
However, this may be the first verified observation in this area for several
decades," he said.
A
landowner told Fitkin that he watched the bear wander across his property at a
distance of 200 to 500 feet, passing near an enclosure with two domestic sheep
without incident. The bear removed a screen from a water collection barrel but
no further nuisance activity was reported.
The
landowner took several photos of the bear before it wandered off. The bear has
not been seen since this sighting.
"Chances
are the bear is just passing through in its normal course of foraging,"
said Fitkin.
Fitkin
and another biologist documented by photo, measurement, and plaster cast
several bear tracks found in mud near a spring on the property. They collected
hair samples from a barbed wire fence through which the landowner reported the
bear had passed, as well as bear droppings found near the tracks and hair.
The
biologists also found and photographed a small dig site where a large animal
had excavated a ground squirrel burrow, a common foraging behavior for
grizzlies, but not typical for black bears.
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