Black Bear Euthanized After Raiding Campground

Wildlife managers with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department have euthanized a black bear that has been feeding on hotdogs and other human food at the Sibley Lake campground in the Bighorn National Forest.
The 4- to 5-year-old male bear had visited the campground Friday evening and returned Saturday night, and was trapped and euthanized on Sunday morning. Game Warden Dustin Shorma says he saw more than one campsite with food and coolers left outside and accessible to the bear.
Wildlife managers believe the same bear had visited the campground the weekend of July 28-29, and probably visited the Prune Creek campground last Wednesday and Thursday, eating cookies and sausages left out by campers.
Bighorn National Forest managers say that bear activity has increased recently at Sibley Lake, Tie Fume and Dead Swede campgrounds, getting into coolers and tipping over trash bins. Officials remind campers to take precautions to avoid encounters with black bears, by keeping a clean camp, storing food, garbage, toiletries, cooking utensils, dishes, pet food and stoves in closed vehicles or approved bear-resistant containers.
They say bears can become aggressive when searching for food, and once a bear receives a food reward, it may become habituated to humans and return to the same place or visit another campsite or garbage cans.