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Beer 399 is arguably the world’s most loved grizzly bear. Born in the Pilgrim Creek in Grand Teton National Park, Bear 399 has wowed tourists for years as she raised her cubs side-by-side with the developing Jackson Valley.
At 26, Bear 399 is older than most wild female grizzlies, which only adds to her allure. In January 2020, many biologists feared she wouldn’t make it hibernation because of her advanced age. However, she emerged with four new cubs. This year, those cubs are yearlings and are following their mother as they prepare for this winter.
However, in recent weeks, the 399 clan has been experiencing problems. At a meeting organized by City Hall Big Sky in big air, Montana, a group of conservationists gathered to discuss the future of Bear 399 and the American grizzly as a species.
Among those speakers were Tom Mangelsen, a renowned wildlife photographer best known for his work related to Bear 399; dr. Chris Servheen, a grizzly bear conservation advocate who oversaw many of the programs leading to grizzly bear recovery; and dr. Jodie Hilty, a leading landscape thinker from Alberta, Canada.
What will happen to Bear 399?
Bear 399 and her cubs have made their way into the residential areas of Jackson, eventually moving them outside the protections of Grand Teton National Park and beyond the jurisdiction of National Park land. Part of this movement is due to the changing moose migration paths caused by reduction hunts in Grand Teton National Park and the Elk Refuge.
Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region rely on abandoned gut piles to prepare for hibernation. This changing moose migration means that due to hunting in Grand Teton National Park and the Elk Refuge, herds choose to avoid those areas and therefore encounter other hunters in the wilderness around Jackson’s residential areas. Bear 399 was tracked and chose to feed her and her cubs from these gut stacks.
Over the weekend, her encounters with unsecured beehives, livestock and bird food prompted six federal agencies to act provocatively. They used bait to lure her and her cubs and then tried to capture them. The reason? They wanted to collar them for future tracking.
After three of the 399 cubs were sedated, the agencies managed to capture two of the yearlings for future tracking.
This move was controversial due to the public love for Bear 399 and the great power used to run the management operation. Tom Mangelsen called this use of force “brutal” and said it was “the most incredible act against Bear 399”.
According to Mangelsen, after her cubs were sedated, she walked the remaining cub along the highway before sitting on a hill to wait for them to catch up before leaving the area. When she returned 12 hours later, the authorities involved returned the cubs to her care. According to Mangelsen, this was a ‘failed’ operation, because it was no more than a miracle that the family could still be reunited after such a stressful event.
The reason for the collar?
According to Chris Servheen, the collars will be used by agencies to track the family and target the people ultimately responsible for poor food storage. Unsecured food is the biggest problem facing the American grizzly.
Grizzlies learn their feeding behavior from their mother. Once bears are used to accessing human food in residential areas, they will return to residential areas. This increases the likelihood of negative bear-human encounters and the likelihood of a bear being labeled a problem and eventually killed.
63 grizzlies were killed in Wyoming this year. Not all deaths were related to food problems, but the high number can be traced back to the increased number of human-bear encounters in 2021.
Many bear lovers fear that Bear 399 and her cubs will suffer the same fate. However, this problem is much bigger than Bear 399.
“She’s a mouthpiece for all the other bears,” Mangelsen said, “It’s not just a Jackson problem — it’s important throughout the region of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.”
A meeting of conservation
The meeting began with a recorded introduction from Dr. Jane Goodall, urging the crowd to do what they could to protect the American grizzly. Then the panelists took over to discuss the problems of grizzlies and the ways the public could act as advocates.
What are the biggest problems facing the American grizzly?
- Unsecured Food Storage and Waste Disposal Methods
- Unbridled development in previously wild areas.
“Most grizzly bears die by human hands,” Chris Servheen said.
This is due to the problems of food storage and the rampant development of the west that eventually invades the wilderness. Politics has not helped.
In Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, lawmakers have repealed laws banning black bear hunting with dogs—a law in effect since 1921; sweeping “game management” measures introduced that allow for widespread hunting of keystone species such as wolves; and try to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list.
According to City Hall panelists, these ideologies are an active part of science-based conservation strategies that have been around for more than 40 years. This “anti-predator hysteria” is actively endangering the ecological stability of the American West and endangering the future of grizzly bears like 399.
Jodie Hilty summed up the sentiments: “I wish people in the Northern Rockies would be proud to live with these amazing creatures.”
The Future of Grizzly Bear Conservation
However, the door is not yet closed to grizzly bears.
Alberta, Canada is a province that has grown in bear conservation and in many ways is way ahead of the American West with strategies for living peacefully in bear country.
Canmore, Canada has virtually eliminated human-bear encounters in the city by switching to a fully bear-proof solid waste system. In addition, BearSmart and WildSmart have introduced programs that allow both tourists to the areas and locals to learn about the best principles for living and recreation in bear country.
According to Hilty, that didn’t just happen. Albertans had to fight for conservation, and she is urging Americans in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming to do the same.
“The government needs to hear loud and united about this,” she says, “the power of the people matters.”
She tells the conservation-minded crowd to work together to create an entity that will bring these issues into legislatures and city councils. She advises them to show those in power the rules they want to see implemented.
“We have incredible wildlife and wilderness. We must do everything we can to help them,” added Mangelsen, “This is a miracle that we now have in our hands.”
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