Grizzly bear at Yellowstone National Park in 2012.Photo:KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyImages
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyImages
The bear, along with its 46-lb. cub, had removed a container of dog food from the house, the homeowner reported to authorities.
Later that night, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service authorized Montana FWP to euthanize the bear. Staff members were able to capture the cub “due to an immediate public safety threat from the bear’s food-conditioned behavior,” Montana FWP said.
Through genetic analysis and other identifying characteristics, authorities were able to link the female bear to the fatal attack of a woman who was found on the Buttermilk Trail near the national park earlier this summer.
“Investigators confirmed grizzly bear tracks at the scene, and the investigation is ongoing,” FWPwrote in a statement on Facebookat the time.
The Custer Gallatin National Forest laterissued a statement on Facebookannouncing that there was an “emergency closure” in place “west of West Yellowstone to address bear/human safety concerns.”
“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,” Montana FWP said, adding that the efforts were unsuccessful.
In 2017, the grizzly bear was in captivity for research purposes, the agency said.
It was not immediately clear when the bear was released, but it was also involved in an encounter in Idaho that injured a person near Henrys Lake State Park in 2020, officials said.
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The bear’s cub is being held at FWP’s wildlife rehabilitation center in Helena, Montana, and arrangements are being made to transfer the cub to a zoo in the coming weeks, FWP said.
source: people.com
