BILLINGS - It's been a tough week for bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

On Wednesday, a 130-pound male black bear was shot by a Yellowstone National Park ranger after the bear was caught ripping into hikers' backpacks near Hellroaring Creek.

On Tuesday, a grizzly bear was captured near Cooke City at the Soda Butte campground, where a tent camper suffered bite wounds from a bear five days earlier.

Deep winter snows combined with a late spring have left many bears in poor shape, and as a result, they're more likely to seek out human foods, park officials said. Once bears become conditioned to human foods, they are more likely to damage property and injure people.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks had two culvert traps set in the area of the Soda Butte campground. The young adult female grizzly that was caught had been captured and collared in 2005 in Wyoming's Sublette County after livestock were killed.

"We're hopeful we caught the bear that injured the camper," said Kevin Frey, FWP's bear-management specialist, in a prepared statement. "We attempted to target a bear in close proximity to the campground and not draw in bears from a broader area. The more time that goes by without nuisance bear activity in the area, the more likely it is that this bear was involved in the incident."

Park officials had also been attempting to capture the black bear, which was being sought after several instances in which it caused damage or obtained food from hikers' packs in the north end of the park, near Hellroaring Creek and the Yellowstone River. The bear was easily identified by distinctive brown and black coloring.

Because of the bear's aggressive behavior, lack of fear of people and its success at getting human food, the decision was made to immediately kill the bear. The area was cleared of visitors and the bear was shot.

Another park bear was euthanized July 10 near Mammoth.

Similar concerns nearly led to a death sentence for the bear captured near Soda Butte, as well. Because the bear may have been involved in the camper's attack, relocating the animal in the wild was not an option. The bear did receive a reprieve, though, when Washington State University's bear research center in Pullman agreed to take the animal.

"Over the years the WSU bear center has taken numerous bears for long-term health and nutrition studies that have helped researchers and managers with the recovery of wild grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states," Frey said.

With the bear's capture, the other culvert trap will be removed.

The Gallatin National Forest closed the Soda Butte and nearby Chief Joseph campgrounds following the attack on Steve Bartley, 59, of Springfield, Ore., on July 17. Bartley had followed all rules for camping in bear country when he was attacked in his tent at about 3 a.m.

Hospital officials in Cody, Wyo., where Bartley was treated, were asked to photograph and measure the bite wounds so they could be compared with any bear captured, but FWP said they had not received the information.

Ken Britton, Gardiner District ranger, said the agency had not yet decided to reopen the two campgrounds.

"We probably won't reopen them this weekend, maybe next week and then only to hard-sided campers," he said. Follow this link for more on living and recreating in bear country.