After bear euthanized, several campgrounds reopen in North Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The Division of Wildlife Resources euthanized an aggressive bear last weekend, and says this is a good reminder for those using the outdoors to keep food put away and camp areas clean.

Officials say there are always bears in the mountains of Utah, even if you’re not seeing them and the best way to keep yourself and the bears safe is to not give them a reason to get close to you.

At the Handshake campground in American Fork Canyon, Jodi Smith and her extended family are enjoying a fun week together.

“We gather our extended family every year up American Fork Canyon,” Smith tells KSL TV.

They arrived over the weekend but almost had to cancel. Granite Flats was one of several campgrounds the Division of Wildlife Resources had closed due to bear danger.

They say the bear they euthanized had been making the rounds at several campsites and showed no fear of humans. In addition, they say the bear had become aggressive at least once.

“It had just created a dangerous situation, that obviously wouldn’t have been solved by just relocating the bear,” says Faith Heaton Jolley with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “Our policy did require that the bear had to be euthanized.”

She says euthanizing an animal is always the worst-case scenario and she hopes campers are strict about cleaning up the areas they use and about keeping food locked up.

For Smith and her family, they make cleaning up a game. Each night they give tickets to the younger kids for helping to make sure there are no scraps of food left anywhere. Smith says It’s a fun way to involve the kids and ensure the campsite is safe.

“We never leave coolers or bins full of food, those are always in trailers, never in tents,” says Smith. “And we just don’t leave snacks around.”

Smith came to this site every year as a child and now brings her kids and grandkids. Her siblings do the same. They expected to have roughly 60 people at the site for dinner on Sunday.

As a family, they want to keep the tradition going for years to come and are willing to put in the work to keep it going. Their family rule at the end of each day?

“Leave no trace.”

The Division of Wildlife Resources says you can find all kinds of safety tips when it comes to bears in the wilderness at wildawareutah.org.