Posted on 05/15/2025 9:17:41 PM PDT by Red Badger
Yellowstone National Park confirmed an 11-year-old male grizzly was captured and killed Wednesday after repeatedly knocking over bear-resistant dumpsters. Officials say the grizzly had repeatedly sought out human food.
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A grizzly bear was captured and killed in Yellowstone National Park this week after becoming too used to human food. It’s the first grizzly to be killed within the boundaries of Yellowstone since 2017.
The National Park Service (NPS) announced that the 11-year-old male grizzly had repeatedly sought out human food, turning over several bear-proof dumpsters and bear-resistant trash cans in several different areas of the park between April 3 and May 13.
Because the incidents were happening near some of the busiest spots in Yellowstone, the decision was made to euthanize the bear rather than relocate it.
It was put down Wednesday.
“It’s unfortunate that this bear began regularly seeking out garbage and was able to defeat the park’s bear-resistant infrastructure,” Yellowstone Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther said in a statement Thursday.
Overturned bear-resistant dumpster in Nez Perce Picnic Area (National Park Service)
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Smarter Than The Average Bear
According to the NPS, Yellowstone’s bear-resistant dumpsters can weigh more than 800 pounds. The heaviest grizzly recorded in Yellowstone, captured in 1977, weighed 715 pounds.
Nevertheless, the 11-year-old grizzly found a way to overturn dumpsters near Old Faithful, the Nez Perce Picnic Area and the Midway Geyser Basin parking lot. Furthermore, the grizzly knocked over several bear-resistant trash cans, which have concrete bases specifically to deter or prevent this kind of behavior.
That level of intelligence and determination in a grizzly is rarely seen in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The NPS was concerned about the heightened risk of a human-grizzly incident, especially at Old Faithful, which is by far the busiest spot in Yellowstone.
“We go to great lengths to protect bears and prevent them from becoming conditioned to human food,” Gunther said. “But occasionally, a bear outsmarts us or overcomes our defenses. When that happens, we sometimes have to remove the bear from the population to protect visitors and property.”
Because the grizzly was frequently causing chaos in the vicinity of Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park staff were mobilized to capture and euthanize it.
Overturned bear-resistant recycling container in Nez Perce Picnic Area (National Park Service) First This Year
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This is the first grizzly killed in a management action in Yellowstone since 2017, when a grizzly was killed for tearing into tents near Heart Lake in the search for human food.
It’s also the first lethal grizzly management action in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 2025. Other grizzlies have been killed since emerging from hibernation, but those were the result of accidental encounters rather than bureaucratic management decisions.
Grizzly 1058, one of Grizzly’s 399 famous quadruplets, was killed by a vehicle strike in Grand Teton National Park in early May. Another grizzly was shot dead after charging a shed antler hunter near Dupuyer, Montana,in mid-April.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regularly captures grizzlies that have shown signs of becoming habituated to human food. The decision to relocate or remove a grizzly from the population is determined by several factors, including the frequency of incidents.
Management actions like these are rare within the boundaries of a national park, but not entirely unheard of. In July 2023, a five-year-old female grizzly was killed in Glacier National Park after showing “increasingly aggressive behavior” after becoming food-conditioned.
“This action was taken after the bear received multiple food rewards from unsecured sources, causing it to exhibit increasingly aggressive behavior,” the park said in a release. “This behavior posed a threat to human safety, making it necessary to remove it from the population.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
They should employ grizzlies to clear out homeless encampments.
Very efficient...................
So the bear likes human food? Not a problem. Might I suggest the cast of The View. Hell, that would get him through several years of hibernation. Problem solved, no need to kill the bear.
“Elaine, you are the bear claw in the dumpster of my life.”
If the Bear can get a passport to Ireland Rosie O’Donnell and partner awaits for feasting. What the hell, if Rosie can get a visa to Ireland why not a bear. LOL
PROSECUTE THE MURDERERS!!!
.
This bear was not smarter than the average
I thought I was going to read that the bear tipped a dumpster on himself and was crushed, like you hear about with people and vending machines.
They could have relocated the poor bear to San Francisco or NY City and nobody would have been the wiser. Plus it would been great for the bear since there is already plenty of garbage and other filth dumped on every street.
Regards,
Ranger Smith warned Yogi about this
Shut the park down! Kick everyone out! Remove all traces of man! The ,and “belongs” to the animals! /s
Failed to read the sign.
Please Do Not Tip The Bear Dumpsters!
Disgusting. Why didn’t they take it to a zoo.
I guess they weren't so bear resistant after all.
This was a wise move. It would only be a matter of time before it attacked and killed a human.
They ought to have enough money saved up from DOGE cuts to just hire the bears and get them some per diem or an employee cafeteria at these parks, like at Disney or Six Flags.
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