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STRAWBERRY RESERVOIR — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officers trapped and relocated a bear Friday that they say visited a campground near Strawberry Reservoir a couple nights this week to forage for food.
"It's a good ending to a situation that could have turned out worse," DWR outreach manager Scott Root said.
Root said because the 2- to 3-year-old black bear showed no signs of aggression, it was released into a remote location hours from where it was caught in a culvert trap.
"In this case, we hit it a couple times with a bean bag round, which just stings it a little bit," Root said of the release, which was caught on video. "We like to haze the bear a little bit, so it has a negative experience with humans."
Officers also applied some orange spray-paint to the bear for identification, in case it causes more trouble.
The U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday it had temporarily shut down the Aspen Grove campground near Strawberry Reservoir and Soldier Creek Reservoir because of bear sightings.
That campground reopened after the bear's capture, Forest Service spokesperson Kathy Jo Pollock confirmed Friday.
Root cautioned campers everywhere in the state to keep campsites clean and to keep food stored in cars.
"This is a great reminder to have people not have food in their campsite, in their tent," he said. "Food is the number one reason we have problems with bears. That's it."
Despite the threat of rain, campers turned out in large numbers Friday to a campsite up Hobble Creek Canyon in Utah County.
There, Joe Cooper and his family – on their first campout together – said they had already discussed the risk of bears and other wild animals coming after their food.
"We'd want to make sure we get everything packed away and cleaned up," Cooper said. "You want to make sure that everything's cleaned up so they don't get the smell of it and come into the campground."
