(The following report appeared on the Billings Gazette website on May 20.)
KALISPELL, Mont. — Bear specialists have recently hazed bears away from the site of a freight train derailment, after a snowstorm wetted the spilled corn, causing it to ferment.
Roughly 2,800 tons of corn spilled when 27 freight cars derailed near Essex on April 20. Burlington Northern Santa Fe has cleaned up the corn on the Glacier National Park side of the tracks, but crews are still working on the south side of the tracks.
State bear management specialist Tim Manley and other officials said Wednesday that grizzly bears started approaching the tracks after a recent snowstorm caused the corn to ferment and release a strong odor. The bears have been chased away by Karelian bear dogs or hazed by cracker shells fired by contractors hired to patrol the area after dark. In addition, noise-making devices triggered by motion sensors are set up, and propane cannons regularly sound off with loud booms.