GARDINER, Montana (Idaho Statesman) — The headless, pawless carcass of a beloved grizzly bear sits bloated in a Montana river near Yellowstone National Park — serving as a grisly reminder of how residents “failed” the bear, wildlife advocates say.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff shot and killed the food-conditioned bear in the Yellowstone River on July 18 after it broke into multiple homes almost every night for nearly two months, sometimes while residents were inside, McClatchy News previously reported.
Then wildlife officials cut off its head and paws and left the carcass there in the river. A gruesome photo of the carcass surfaced online early Monday, July 22, taken by a river guide who spotted it in the Yellowstone River near Gardiner, KBZK reported.
Many who saw the photo were upset, the station reported.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks spokesperson Morgan E. Jacobsen explained the decision to remove the head and paws from the carcass and leave the rest behind in the river. Wildlife officers shot the bear after it walked into the Yellowstone River, only minutes after it had broken into a house, Jacobsen told McClatchy News in an email.
“It was killed in the river because that location provided a safe opportunity for staff to do so, rather than staff attempting to shoot the bear in proximity to homes and people where the bear had been previously,” he said.
The carcass drifted down the river, under water and out of sight, Jacobsen said.
“When FWP staff recovered the carcass, it was in a location where it could not be removed from the river due to hazardous access and the bear’s size (500+ pounds),” he said. “FWP staff removed the head and the paws in compliance with requirements from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to remove any parts of potential monetary value.”
Because grizzlies are listed as an endangered species in the lower 48 states of the U.S., it’s illegal to traffic grizzly bear parts, Cowboy State Daily reported.
“Grizzly skulls and claws can be hot commodities in the illegal wildlife trade,” the outlet reported.
The agency had to kill another grizzly years before in roughly the same area, “and somebody got to the carcass before we could and took the head and paws,” Jacobsen told the outlet. “We didn’t want that to happen again.”
The agency will leave the carcass where it is — visible to people enjoying the river.
“Animal carcasses are common in wild places and are consumed by other wildlife,” Jacobsen told McClatchy News. “However, this is an unfortunate outcome for the bear. Residents, businesses and visitors can help reduce hazards and conflicts with wildlife and prevent the need to remove habituated animals by keeping attractants secured.”
That’s something one of the bear’s biggest fans, wildlife photographer Deby Dixon, will fiercely advocate for.
Dixon shared a long and heartfelt tribute to the bear she had grown to know and love after following Grizzly 769, nicknamed the Blacktail Lakes Bear, for over a decade.
“We failed this grizzly bear,” Dixon wrote in the July 24 post on Facebook.
“With great sadness, I say goodbye to grizzly bear 769, the Blacktail Lakes bear,” Dixon wrote. “I photographed this male grizzly at the Blacktail Lakes and around the park for about 10 years, right beside many other photographers and hundreds of visitors who were seeing their first grizzly bear in the wild.”
Dixon shared a photo she’d taken of the massive grizzly in the snow.
“Living in bear country is hard because it requires more diligence with food attractants than in other places,” she said. “But, anyone moving into areas around Yellowstone National Park knows, or should know, that there are grizzly bears in the area and they don’t stop at the invisible park boundary.”
As long as food rewards, including garbage and apples, are secured properly, “the bears will go away,” she added.
Dixon said she hopes “the next bear does not get any food and is not eventually killed while crossing the Yellowstone River.”
“I also feel the grief, pure sadness, that many feel knowing that 769 is now in the Yellowstone River, blown up by death and without head and paws, reminding rafters and fishermen of our failures to this bear,” she said. “ … Grizzly bear 769, you gave us so much over the years and in the end, we let you down. I will miss you at the Blacktail Lakes every spring – your burst of energy as you ran down the hill for the first time and scouted the waters for the food that was beneath the surface. Many of us will miss you.”
Several of the bear’s fans thanked Dixon for the eulogy and shared their own memories of Grizzly 769 in the comments.
“What an amazing bear he was!” someone said. “It’s so very sad his ending had to be so tragic. We can all learn something from this story and I do hope people who live in bear country take heed.”
