Latest update on Monica and her three cubs

Monica in 2020

Tim Manley just posted an update to Facebook about Monica and her three cubs…

Just an update about this family group of grizzly bears.

I have been up the [North Fork] 3 times in the last 3 days and I will be up there again today.

In the past 5 days the female with 3 yearlings have gotten into two garbage cans two nights in a row. Those cans were replaced with working bear resistant Kodiak cans. The bears got into a trash trailer the next night and that has been replaced with a totally enclosed trailer. The next night they got into a pickup topper that had more than a camp stove. It had food and garbage in the truck. Last night they returned and tried to get into a different car with no garbage or food in it. They also went to another property and pushed on a trailer and were chased off by the landowner. They have been very persistent and not easy to get them to leave.

I am in the process of talking to landowners about a safe place to trap for this family group.

I am also reminding people to secure food and garbage in a way that these bears and others can’t get to it. Not in vehicles because unfortunately , this family group knows to check out cars.

Please notify me of any bear activity so I know where these and other bears are causing conflicts. Thanks.

My phone number is 250-1265 and email is Tim.manley@mt.gov