A sub-adult male grizzly bear was relocated by Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials Monday, after it frequented a guest ranch in the Shoshone National Forest along the North Fork of the Shoshone River. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service, the bear was moved to the Fox Creek drainage, approximately 49 miles northwest of Cody.

Bruins are captured when other options are exhausted or unfeasible and then “all circumstances are taken into account when determining if the individual should be relocated or removed from the population,” the Game and Fish says. Fox Creek was chosen due to the lack of human presence.

So far this year, six grizzly bears have been euthanized by officials in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. A total of 16 grizzly bear mortalities have been reported in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem — including three that drowned in the Heart Mountain canal in May.

“Although the canal doesn’t look like it’s fast-moving water, once the bears get down in the water, they can’t get out,” said Dan Smith, Cody Regional Wildlife Supervisor. Three male bears drowned in the Heart Mountain Irrigation District’s waterways in 2016.

Smith cautioned that the canal has steep, slippery sides that have proved fatal to several species of wildlife, as well as humans.

In the wake of Monday’s relocation, the Game and Fish continues to stress the importance of the public’s responsibility in bear management and the importance of keeping all attractants (food, garbage, horse feed, bird seed and other items) unavailable to bears. Reducing attractants available to bears reduces human-bear conflicts, the department says.