HELENA – When Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks relocates a large predator it is required to communicate this to local and tribal governments under a new law that went into effect Oct. 1.
In anticipation of this law, earlier this summer FWP began informing county sheriffs, county commissioners and tribal governments within the county or tribal government boundaries where a large predator is relocated.
The new law requires that notification take place within 24 hours of the capture of a large predator if it will be relocated into a county or tribal government boundary other than the one it was captured in.
“Communication with local governments is critical in ensuring a broad understanding of what we do for wildlife management,” said FWP Director Christy Clark. “We welcomed this new law and met its requirement well before it took effect.”
In Montana, large predators are mountain lions, wolves and bears. FWP doesn’t relocate mountain lions or wolves but commonly relocates bears – both black and grizzly.
For years, FWP has published bear relocations on its website. This summer, it launched a dashboard with black and grizzly bear relocations. This tool is in addition to directly notifying local governments.
For more information on bear relocations, go online to the FWP website.
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