Biologists Euthanize Nearly Toothless Grizzly Bear

Biologists with the Idaho Department Fish and Game on August 24, 2015 were forced to euthanize a 25 year-old male grizzly bear that had become habituated to human-related foods and had been repeatedly breaking into buildings in search of rewards. The grizzly bear had previously been captured as part of routine scientific monitoring, so its age and health status was known to biologists. According to Regional Wildlife Manager Curtis Hendricks, "This bear started getting into trouble around buildings at the end of last season and given that fact that some of his teeth were missing and the others were pretty worn down, which is typical for a bear of this age, continuation of this type of behavior could be expected. " While this bear had made no direct threats to humans, it habituation to human-related foods and decreasing ability to forage naturally increased the potential for physical conflict with humans and required immediate action. Elsewhere in Island Park, another younger grizzly bear who had become overly comfortable around humans and whose antics playing with a sprinkler had appeared on local television news, was hazed with rubber bullets. The grizzly bear population of the Yellowstone Ecosystem is approximately 1,150 animals and has exceeded all recovery goals. While the Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears remain listed, all management actions such as this, are first approved by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service(USFWS). Recovery effort member agencies have requested that the USFWS once again remove the Yellowstone grizzly population from the Endangered Species list.