For the week of August 15 - 21, 2001

Encounters with wildlife on the rise in valley

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

A 225-pound male black bear broke into a home in Adams Gulch recently, opened the freezer and pulled out half a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream, which he carried outside and enjoyed while lying on the lawn. He enjoyed it so much that he decided he’d like seconds. When the home’s residents saw the bear lumbering up for more, they threw a second half gallon out the door. (Moral: You can’t have too much ice cream on hand.)

Ketchum veterinarian Randy Acker, left, and Rob Hillman, an internist, examine a black bear captured Monday in town. The bear was later moved to the Galena Summit area. Photo by Shannon Besoyan

The bear’s visit was just one of the most dramatic in an unusually high number of wildlife sightings around the Wood River Valley this summer, caused by drought and naturally expanding animal populations.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game Conservation Officer Lee Frost said six or seven black bears are currently hanging out between Greenhorn Gulch and Hulen Meadows, 80 to 85 "urban foxes" call Ketchum or Sun Valley home, 80 to 90 moose are living in the Wood River Valley, and deer and raccoons are a lot more populous than normal.

Though vegetation still looks pretty lush, Frost said last winter’s drought has made it unusually dry and brittle.

The bear in Adams Gulch had an additional problem—an injured right front paw from a collision with a car on Highway 75 on July 21. Since the accident, the bear moved from Adams Gulch to the Lower Board Ranch before moseying around the edge of Bald Mountain and swimming across the Big Wood River to Ketchum about 10 days ago.

"We’ve been kind of chasing this bear around," Frost said.

On Sunday night, the bear paid a visit to the Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant.

"He opened the screen door, opened the handle of the freezer, grabbed a mud pie and walked out," said the restaurant’s owner, Bob Dunn. "He looked like a man in a bear suit."

The bear was trapped early Monday morning after having entered two more houses. It was sedated and transported to the office of veterinarian Randy Acker. Frost said X-rays showed no broken bones, and Acker diagnosed the injury as nerve damage, which should eventually heal.

The bear was released Monday above Galena Lodge.

"We don’t think it’s a public safety hazard," Frost said. "It’s definitely habituated to being around people, but it’s not aggressive at all. It couldn’t have cared less if there were people around or not. It was just following its nose to the next free meal, and people aren’t on the menu at all for a black bear."

Trapping the adroit bear, however, was not the end of ursine problems in Warm Springs. Dunn said a second bear has been getting into the restaurant’s Dumpster during the night. Employees thought they had the bear foiled by locking the Dumpster after the restaurant closed. However, Dunn said, "he comes in earlier now because he’s catching on to that."

The area’s red foxes pose fewer problems to human residents than do bears; in fact, they’re so cute that a lot of people feed them intentionally, a practice the Department of Fish and Game frowns upon.

"But given the opportunity, almost everyone up here will do it," Frost acknowledges.

He said the foxes are not vicious and Idaho has a very low incidence of rabies, though the foxes probably account for the disappearance of more than a few cats, and occasionally someone gets bitten accidentally when trying to feed a fox by hand.

He said the 80 or so foxes in Ketchum and Sun Valley "are born inside the city limits and probably never leave it," becoming quasi-tame.

Frost said large litters this spring, up to nine kits, is evidence of the animals’ good health.

"I think we’re looking at a real big red fox population for the next few years," he said.

He said the foxes have no natural enemies during most of the year, though mountain lions and coyotes occasionally eat them in winter.

"Their biggest controlling factor is getting hit on the road."

The Wood River Valley’s raccoon population, Frost said, appears to be expanding as a result of the animals’ moving up the Big Wood from the Snake River. He said he has received a number of calls from homeowners hosting uninvited raccoons.

"The livin’ is real, real easy up here in this valley right now. These things are pretty dexterous. They come in through the cat door or the dog door and go right into the cupboards and scatter stuff."

Frost has also received complaints from homeowners this summer about beavers munching on their expensive landscaping. He said that as water levels drop, the beaver go farther afield looking for suitable material to expand their dams and maintain their swimming pools.

Though last winter’s low snow has reduced suitable feed, it was a boon to deer and elk. Frost said unusually frequent deer sightings are a result both of lower winter mortality and the fact that the animals are concentrating in riparian areas this summer in search of edible vegetation.

And that’s the source of most interactions between humans and wild animals—we all know a good piece of real estate when we see one.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.