The bears are fitted with a special collar that sends a signal to a satellite and back to Earth. A special computer reports location, travel, and activity of the bears. Through DNA-fingerprinting of bear tissues and hair samples, vital biological information about the number of bears, their health, and family tree can be obtained. In the past, tissue and hair samples of sufficient size for analysis could only be collected during capture. This was dangerous for the biolgist and stressful for the bear.
Bears brush up against the barbed wire leaving tissue and hair samples for DNA analysis.
Scent stations are inexpensive, easy to set up and monitor, safer for bears and humans than previous methods of tissue collection, and will make analysis of bear-DNA possible.