State officials captured and relocated an adult female grizzly bear last week for livestock depredation northwest of Cody on private land. The bear was relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage, about 5 miles from the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Grizzly bear relocation is a management tool large carnivore biologists use to minimize conflicts between humans and grizzly bears, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

“It is critical to managing the expanding population of grizzly bears in Wyoming,” the agency said in a Thursday press release.

Capture is necessary when other deterrents or preventative options are exhausted or unattainable. Once the animal is captured, all circumstances are taken into account when determining if the individual should be relocated, the department said. If relocation is warranted, a site is determined by considering the age, sex and type of conflict the bear was involved in as well as potential human activity nearby.

Grizzly bears are only relocated into the recovery zone or adjacent areas. With any relocation, Game and Fish consults with appropriate agencies to minimize the chance of future conflicts and maximize the relocated grizzly bear’s survival.

Bears that are considered a threat to human safety are not relocated. In some cases, a bear may be removed from the population if it cannot be relocated successfully.

According to provisional reports to the U.S. Geological Survey, nine grizzly bears have been captured and euthanized in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, seven of which were in Wyoming. Another four grizzlies were killed in collisions with vehicles, one drowned in a cement-sided canal and nine are still under investigation or died of natural causes. In all, 23 of the federally protected species have been reported to have died so far this year.

Game and Fish continues to stress the importance of the public’s responsibility in bear management and the importance of keeping all attractants such as food, garbage, horse feed and bird seed unavailable to bears. Reducing attractants available to bears reduces human-bear conflicts, and in some cases, relocations.

Though Game and Fish officials work closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on management decisions, final management decisions are made by the federal agency.