PEND OREILLE, Wash. — Across Northeast Washington, small snares are set for grizzly bears that pass through the area.
These traps are set by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and aren’t harmful to the bears.
They are designed to collect hair samples, which biologists use to track individual animals.
The lures don’t just work on grizzly bears, but black bears as well.
They are attached to barbed wire fences that draw the bears in.
As the bears crawl through or past the snares, they leave behind bits of their DNA.
WDFW biologists later collect this DNA to help track individual bears that travel through the area.
According to WDFW, grizzly populations are very small and isolated in the state.
For the most part, grizzly bear populations are only found in the Selkirk Mountains.
The Selkirk Mountains range is located in Southeast British Columbia, Northeast Washington, and Northern Idaho.
The mountain range is very close to the Canadian border.
These traps help biologists carefully track bear populations whose numbers have decreased due to the invasion of their homes across the state.
Biologists hope the data will aid in monitoring the recovery of grizzly bears, which play an important role in the ecosystem of the Northern Cascade Mountains.