This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Another grizzly bear is dead in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The male was killed in Yellowstone National Park May 14 because it had become too conditioned to human food. The 11-year-old bruin repeatedly got into trash cans and food around Old Faithful and other popular spots.
“It’s unfortunate that this bear began regularly seeking out garbage and was able to defeat the park’s bear-resistant infrastructure,” Yellowstone Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther said in a press release.
The bear developed a strategy to flip 800-pound dumpsters and uproot smaller bear-resistant trash cans from cement. So the park decided to trap and kill it to ensure public safety.
The last time the park euthanized a bear like this was in fall 2017, when a grizzly had taken to damaging tents and accessing human food in backcountry campsites at Heart Lake.
“Occasionally, a bear outsmarts us or overcomes our defenses,” Gunther continued. “When that happens, we sometimes have to remove the bear from the population to protect visitors and property.”
This is the fourth bear death in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in two weeks. One of Grizzly 399’s male offspring was recently hit by a car in Grand Teton National Park.
Two yearling cubs were also found dead on May 13 near Colter Bay. Biologists say they were likely killed by another large male grizzly.
