Danger in the dens, or the hazards of tranquilizing big wildlife

Posted on: March 26, 2017 | Bob Frye | Comments

Wildlife conservation officer Bill Brehun holds one of the tranquilizer guns used to dart black bears in Pennsylvania.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures

There’s a certain element of danger involved with climbing into the places large predators call home in winter.

And it has nothing to do with bears.

That was proven again recently in Utah. There, a Division of Wildlife Resources biologist – a 20-year veteran of the agency – was accidentally hit with a tranquilizer dart meant for a black bear.

According to a Division press release, the biologist and six other employees were checking on a sow with two cubs, for all the same reasons biologists do in Pennsylvania. In this case, the bears were denned under a large rock on a steep canyon hillside. Crew members darted the mother bear.

They then noticed a yearling bear in the den and prepared to dart it, too.

The tranquilizer gun accidentally discharged, however, with a dart hitting the biologist in the hand.

“We noted the time of injection, the dosage received and then we started monitoring his condition. We knew we had only 15 to 20 minutes before he possibly lost consciousness, so we knew we had to act fast,” said Dax Mangus, a regional wildlife manager. “We didn’t have any cell service. And, in the steep, timbered canyon, we knew we couldn’t safely land a medical helicopter.”

The biologist, able to walk, and two members of the crew hiked to a ridge top. A helicopter picked them up almost three hours later.

The biologist had to spend a night in the hospital, but is reportedly doing OK now.

There’s no doubt working with the drugs meant for tranquilizing animals has its risks, though, said Bill Brehun, wildlife conservation officer in eastern Westmoreland County for the Game Commission.

The darts fired by tranquilizer guns move at relatively slow speed and can easily ricochet off the branches and other obstacles that often surround bear deans, he said. With multiple people standing nearby, that can be an issue, he said.

“You really have to practice with the guns and get to know them,” Brehun said.

It’s important to wear protective gear, he added. When officers tranquilize a bear in a culvert trap, for example, he said, they were glasses to keep from having any drug splash in their eyes.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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