Officials Hope to Recapture Wandering Grizzly in North Idaho

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — A grizzly bear trapped and released in Montana has wandered into northern Idaho where state and federal officials are trying to recapture it due to concern it has lost its natural wariness of humans.

Idaho Fish and Game officials tell The Spokesman-Review in a story on Friday that the 2-year-old male grizzly that's about 165 pounds has been spotted in the Coeur d'Alene River drainage several times since Sept. 4. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks captured the bear in western Montana on Aug. 4 and released it the same day near Spar Lake on the Montana-Idaho border to bolster the grizzly bear population in the Cabinet Mountains.

Officials say a GPS tracking collar indicates the bear might have been forced to move about because of wildfires in the region.