Probably happens more often than we know about.
Only because of dumb fuggery.
Even happened to a Game and Fish bear expert Caldumbfugg.
Link“Ellsbury explained he’d seen a rather large black bear while working in the Sweetwater Creek drainage along the North Fork of the Shoshone River.”
“Browning said the bear was a roughly 200-pound male grizzly, dark in color and brown or black on its rear end and lower legs with blond tips on its back, upper sides and around its head. The animal also had long front claws, a back hump and a somewhat dished facial profile, Browning said.”
A 200 pound bear is NOT “a rather large” bear irregardless of whether it’s a black bear or grizzly. I’m not surprised that a “professional” working for the states or feds can’t do the most basic functions of their job. I’m also not surprised that a dipshit, over-educated idiot working for a government agency thinks that a 200 pound bear is “rather large” and worth obsessing over.
It seems to me that if even a professional biologist that specializes in large carnivores can’t identify the species then the state should replace him with someone that has a f’ing clue.
