Glacier Bear Study Inadvertently Kills Grizzly

Well, here's depressing -- and coldly ironic -- news. A grizzly bear estimated to be 17 years old has died in Glacier National Park as the result of a study into bear population trends in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
The bear, a male weighing nearly 400 pounds, was caught in a leg-snare trap on Sunday and anesthetized so park and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists could take biological samples. After their work was done, the biologists stayed around until the grizzly began to come out of his woozy sleep and then left.
Unfortunately, on Monday the grizz was found dead, just a few feet from the snare. While the bear was sent to a state facility for a necropsy to determine the cause of death, officials also are sending the drugs used to knock out the bear for analysis.