JACKSON, Wyo. — Famed mama griz 399 and her four cubs emerged from hibernation yesterday, according to a video posted by Team 399 on Facebook.
Creatures of habit, the family emerged from hibernation almost spot on with last year’s emergence, but just one day later. Yesterday was also April’s full moon.
After emerging from their den last April, the family had an action-packed summer, venturing out of Grand Teton National Park, raising concerns about the growing bears receiving unsecured attractants and human conflicts.
In early November, two of 399’s yearlings were radio-collared by an interagency team from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to better monitor the bears and mitigate human-bear conflicts.
On Nov. 10 the quintet was “escorted” out of Jackson after roaming the streets and making a brief stop at the Jackson Police Department. Local law enforcement and U.S Fish and Wildlife officials urged the bears north towards Spring Gulch.
399 and her cub’s presence in residential areas around Jackson Hole fueled conversations about mitigating bear and human conflict and new regulations countywide for bear-proof trash cans. The Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously last week to update the LDRs to require bear-proof trash cans countywide and other regulations for securing bear attractants.
It is unclear if the family will remain as a unit this summer. It is common for a grizzly mother to care for her young for at least two years, feeding and protecting them. But when the cubs are two and a half years old, they typically separate from their mother.
Team 399 captured footage of the family on the move in Grand Teton National Park. According to their Facebook page, Team 399 is an organization run by husband and wife team Jack and Gina Bayles. The Bayles are full-time filmmakers, photographers, naturalist guides and wildlife advocates in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. “For Love Of The Wild is their philosophy. Team 399 is their instrument,” says their website.
The organization donates half of their profits on art to fund grizzly bear advocacy, education, protection and, where possible, the rescue of orphaned grizzly cubs.
