3 Grizzly Bears Dead in 2 Separate National Park Incidents

It has been a sad week for grizzly bears in national parks. On Tuesday, May 13, two young grizzly bears were found dead, killed by another grizzly in Grand Teton National Park. Just a few days later on May 14, a 400-pound grizzly bear was put down by rangers in Yellowstone National Park. Both incidents were reported by the National Park Service.

In the incident where the 400-pound grizzly bear was put down, the bear had been repeatedly seeking out human food, going so far as to develop a strategy to knock over 800-pound bear resistant dumpsters and rip out small bear-resistant trash cans from concrete. This behavior not only put himself and other animals in the park at risk, it also posed a danger to park goers. 

“It’s unfortunate that this bear began regularly seeking out garbage and was able to defeat the park’s bear-resistant infrastructure,” said Yellowstone Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther, in a statement provided by the National Park Service. “We go to great lengths to protect bears and prevent them from becoming conditioned to human food. But occasionally, a bear outsmarts us or overcomes our defenses. When that happens, we sometimes have to remove the bear from the population to protect visitors and property.”

The last time the NPS put down a bear in Yellowstone was in 2017, when a grizzly was attacking tents and breaking into trash cans.

In the May 13 incident, a mother grizzly bear had been observed with her three cubs around Grand Teton National Park in the weeks prior to the discovery of two of the dead bear cubs. It is believed that the cubs were attacked by a male grizzly in the park. The bears were found about 250 yards from one another, and the location of the third cub remains unknown. The mother bear has since been spotted by officials.

“Bears exhibit a range of fascinating behaviors influenced by their biological needs, social structures, and environmental factors,” said Grand Teton National Park Bear Biologist Justin Schwabedissen, in a statement about the incident. “While it is incredibly sad to see a grizzly bear lose its cubs, predation by other bears is a natural source of cub mortality in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and has previously occurred in Grand Teton.”

When you are visiting national parks, it is important to follow all posted guidelines regarding wildlife. This includes but is not limited to securing your food, trash, and belongings in accordance with the national park’s rules, never interacting, touching, or getting in the space of wild animals, and reporting all bear sightings to park rangers. Learn more about bear encounters and safety at the National Park Service website.