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The three grizzly bear cubs whose mother killed one person and injured two others at the Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City arrived at ZooMontana in Billings on Sunday morning.

The cubs will remain in quarantine for at least 30 days to make sure they are disease-free.

ZooMontana executive director Jackie Worstell said the two female cubs and one male cub were underweight, possibly explaining their mother's unusually aggressive behavior. "It may be an indication of what happened," Worstell said. "There's obvious signs of stress and malnourishment. Maybe (the sow) was desperate."

The year-old cubs each weighed only between 60 and 70 pounds, versus a normal range of 80 to 130 pounds. Wildlife officials are investigating what caused the cubs to be malnourished.

The three cubs aren't expected to be available for public viewing until fall.

(July 30, 2010) Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials announced on Friday that the female grizzly responsible for killing one man and injuring two people at a campground near Cooke City this week has been was euthanized.

Saliva, hair, and tissue samples of the bear collected by investigators and tested by a DNA identification lab in Laramie, Wyoming, confirmed that the captured adult bear was responsible for the attack. Additional forensic evidence supported this conclusion.

FWP supervisor Pat Flowers in Bozeman said that based on the circumstances of the three separate attacks on sleeping campers, and following discussions with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the adult bear was euthanized.

Under an agreement among eight state and federal agencies, it is advised that grizzly bears that display unprovoked aggressive behavior toward humans, or that cause substantial human injury, including loss of human life, be removed from the population.

Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, noted, “We want to find out if the unusual predatory behavior of this bear on humans is related to any physical condition or ailment. We will perform an autopsy on this bear because this is the only way to determine this.”

Investigators found Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, dead at the campground early Wednesday morning. Two other people, Deb Freele of Ontario and Ronald Singer of Colorado, were bitten and later treated at a hospital in Cody, Wyoming.

The three yearling cubs of the sow will be sent to a zoo as soon as possible; KTVQ in Billings reports that they will likely be taken in by ZooMontana in Billings.