Researcher near Ely says hunter killed one of his bears

Post date: Sep 8, 2010 3:46:47 PM

Last update: September 8, 2010 - 6:20 AM

Star & Tribune

Sarah

A yearling bear wearing a radio collar with bright pink ribbons has been killed near Ely, one of 14 similarly bedecked bears being studied by researcher Lynn Rogers.

Rogers, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, has gained worldwide attention in the past year as he and fellow biologist Sue Mansfield of the North American Bear Center and Wildlife Research Institute near Ely have used the Internet to publicize their "walks with bears’’ and other projects.

Department of Natural Resources bear researchers have at times differed with Rogers’ approach. But tens of thousands of people worldwide this year watched on the Internet via a "den cam’’ the birth of a young bear that Rogers named Hope.

Now the yearling bear named Sarah is dead, killed by a hunter, Rogers said — an act that is legal but unethical, in his opinion.

"Ethical hunters are outraged,’’ he said, noting the DNR and the Minnesota Bear Guides Association had asked hunters not to shoot collared bears in the season that began Sept. 1.

The DNR could not be reached Tuesday night to confirm a hunter had killed the bear. Rogers said his staff received Sarah’s bloodied collar, absent its ribbons, from the DNR in Ely on Tuesday morning.

As news of the death broke on the bears’ Facebook page, nearly 2,000 comments flooded in, many decrying hunting and hunters.

dennis anderson