West Yellowstone, MT – Montana wildlife officials have confirmed that a female grizzly was shot and killed after breaking into a residence and stealing a container of dog food. In a press release, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Agency confirmed that the grizzly is the same bear involved in the fatal mauling of a woman near West Yellowstone in July.
On Saturday morning, the 10-year-old grizzly, and her cub, entered a residence through a window. Wildlife officials tracked and killed her later that night, capturing her cub who was nearby.
According to the news release, the cub is being held at FWP’s wildlife rehabilitation center in Helena while arrangements are made to transfer the cub to a zoo in the coming weeks.
The news release explains why officials chose to kill the grizzly:
The 10-year-old female grizzly had originally been captured in 2017 for research purposes. Through genetic analysis and other identifying characteristics, staff confirmed the bear was involved in a fatal attack on a woman near West Yellowstone in July. The bear was also involved in an encounter in Idaho that injured a person near Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho in 2020. Both incidents were evaluated carefully at the time and deemed to be defensive responses by the bear. Multiple efforts to trap and remove the bear were made after the fatal attack in July due to the incident’s proximity to residences, campgrounds, and high-use OHV trails. These efforts were unsuccessful.
Continue reading: Shelter Is Full, Petite Pup Is ‘Urgent’ And Needs Out Now
Instead of killing her, you could have moved her and her cub to a remote area. God knows there is plenty of that around there.
They didn’t have to kill the bear. They could have made a better effort to relocate her and her cub. Now the poor baby is motherless and will spend the rest of his life in a zoo! Real nice wildlife official jerks!
To all these good folks saying that the bear could’ve been relocated to a place where there’s no humans… Where exactly is that now? Everywhere… There are humans. This bear has consistently demonstrated that she has no fear of humans and doesn’t mind killing them and will break into a residence. That’s a little bit scary. I’ll bet any of these commenters will change their mind if a big giant bears breaking into their house to steal whatever and if you or your loved one is getting mauled to death… Again, I bet you change your tune.
Humans outnumbered bears and other wildlife by the billions. If a human is killed because a bear thinks they are a threat to her cub, so be it. We are hiking, camping and building our homes in THEIR environment and habitat. Just because we are the dominate species on the planet doesn’t mean we should be killing other species to suit our needs. We need to co-exist with animals. They were here first before man. And if a bear breaks into a home for food, they should be scared out and hazed to avoid humans, not shot to death. The bear was looking for food and found a easy food source. Not their fault for being smart, but ours for building homes in wildness areas. People want to live in the mountains or country because it’s pretty, well there are consequences to pay some times.
People are Assholes, in General. and also Control Freaks. I don’t really like people at all, unless they are an Animal Lover.
Why kill this momma bear who not relocate them
I love Bears. I hope they rip all of your heads off who are killing them.. God Damn You
Why kill the poor mama bear? She was looking for food to feed her baby and found food in someone’s house in her active area. So she took the food. What is wrong with that? We build houses close to or inside of bear habitat region, then should realize the possibility someday bear will visit.
Please release the poor baby cub to open wild area or park. Don’t keep the poor baby in zoo after lost mama’s care, love and protection.