WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department (FWP) has announced that a grizzly bear was euthanized on Saturday, Sept. 2, following “multiple conflicts with people.”
The latest incident happened Saturday morning, when the bear broke into a house near West Yellowstone and absconded with a container of dog food. The 10-year-old adult female grizzly had brought a cub with her inside the house, which was occupied at the time.
The adult bear was shot and killed later that day, “due to an immediate public safety threat from the bear’s food-conditioned behavior,” FWP said. The cub, a 46-pound male, was captured and will be held at FWP’s wildlife rehabilitation center in Helena while plans are made to transfer him to a zoo.
FWP says the slain grizzly is responsible for the death of a hiker in late July, which they confirmed through genetic analysis. The bear was also the suspected perpetrator of an attack in Idaho’s Henrys Lake State Park in 2020.
“While both incidents were assessed 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 a high-use OHV trail system,” FWP said. “These efforts were unsuccessful.”
The bear had been captured in 2017 for research purposes.
Grizzly activity in Montana has picked up recently. Two bears were killed in self-defense in the past few weeks, and another bear was euthanized north of Yellowstone National Park in August for livestock depredation.
