Decision to kill wandering bear mom in Butte sets off social media firestorm

Yesterday we told you about the dilemma that Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials and the Butte Police were having with the young trio of bears that were seen rummaging through garbage cans on Butte's Westside yesterday.  Today we can report that the problem has been solved.  And the way it was solved has many in Southwest Montana up in arms.

My friend Wood Collins summed up many peoples' feelings.  The mother bear, after attempts to tranquilize her were unsuccessful, was shot and killed leaving the two young cubs without a mother.  Or, for that matter, much of a future.  This has another friend of mine, Blake Hempstead from Anaconda commenting on the subject.

Blake does have a point, doesn't he?  I'm not going to pretend that I'm a wildlife expert and will admit that I have absolutely zero firsthand knowledge of the situation, but did officials have to kill the mother bear?  Were they out of time?  Was the bear becoming threatening?  I have no idea.  But yesterday when I was speaking with a FWP official from Bozeman, he reminded me that we live in Southwest Montana and bears and wildlife entering urban areas are really not that uncommon.  So, again, why did they shoot the bear?  This was our best option?  I'm scratching my head.

In addition to the, in my opinion, senseless killing of this animal, we now have two orphaned cubs.  What now happens to them?  Do they live a miserable life in a zoo?  We've seen many times just how much wild animals love being captured and put on display 24/7.  Or do we just save everyone the trouble and just put a bullet in them as well?

This is Big Sky Country.  Bear country.  We need to do better.  These opinions are those of the author and any comments or corrections are welcome.