As grizzly bears continue to repopulate Montana’s northern prairies, wildlife managers use variety of methods to push them away from ranches and other potential trouble spots, including shouting at the bears over drone speakers.
The noise of drone propellers alone sometimes isn’t enough to get the grizzlies to scram, said Dave Kemp, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Conrad-area grizzly bear management specialist.
But “human-related sounds” such as talking or even yelling at the bears over drone speakers has proven effective, he told Cowboy State Daily.
“We need to associate that drone activity with human activity so the bear can make the connection: ‘This drone means people, and I don’t want to have anything to do with it,’” he said.
That, along with other hazing methods, has so far minimized conflict between humans and Montana’s prairie grizzlies, which have pushed all the way into the Missouri Breaks region.
Drones are also occasionally used to haze bears in Wyoming and other states. Even so, airborne assault tactics failed in May, when a black bear climbed a tree in Golden, Colorado.
The bear didn’t budge, even when wildlife agents and local police tried flying a drone right above it and blasting a classic heavy metal anthem, Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” from the drone’s speakers.
Drones Make Recon Safer For People
Drones have proven useful in grizzly management, Kemp said, and not just for shooing grizzlies away from people’s homes or farmers’ grain bins.
Using drones also allows wildlife managers to track bears’ locations without risking direct contact with the grizzlies.
Drones can be outfitted with equipment to pick up a bear’s heat signature, for instance, he said. That can help field personnel find bears that they might not have been able to locate visibly if the grizzlies are hunkered down in thick brush.
Drones are also used for grizzly recon and occasional hazing in Wyoming, state Game and Fish Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“We use drones for myriad applications in wildlife, including for grizzly bears,” he said. “Generally speaking, they are most useful from a reconnaissance standpoint to determine where a bear is or is not. Much is employed for the sake of human safety, the public and our crew, which does include hazing.”
In southwest Montana, drones are used to locate grizzlies, but so far haven’t been used to haze them, FWP Region 3 spokesman Morgan Jacobsen told Cowboy State Daily.
“Our bear staff in the region have not used drones as a hazing method for grizzly bears. We do, however, use a drone for human safety,” he said.
“For example, if they’re visiting a site with limited visibility, and there’s an active trap or a possible carcass or wounded bear, they’ll fly a drone with a heat-sensing camera as a precautionary attempt to locate bears near the site before staff enter on foot,” Jacobsen said.
Will Bears Get Used To It?
Any form of wildlife hazing raises the question: What if the animals get used to it and stop being afraid? Some Colorado ranchers dealing with that state’s reintroduced wolves claim that hazing methods, such as flashing lights, have lost their effectiveness over time.
Given how intelligent grizzlies are, Kemp and Thompson said that the over-use of any technique carries the risk of bears losing their fear of it.
“Like all things, depending on the stimulus and level of use, the animal can become acclimated to the negative stimulus,” Thompson said.
Kemp said he tries to avoid too much repetition when dealing with bears.
“There’s always a thought in the back of my mind to not habituate a bear when I’m trying to haze it to a particular method,” he said.
Photo: This black bear was treed for hours in a Golden, Colorado, neighborhood. In a final effort to flush the bear out, wildlife officials blasted Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” at it. Seems, as the agency posted, “black bears don’t mind Black Sabbath.” (Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region via X)
Source: Cowboy State Daily