Free Republic

Grizzly bears in Wyoming and the rest of the Lower 48 will remain under endangered species protection, federal officials announced — a decision immediately blasted by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon. In a statement released Wednesday just after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its intention to keep grizzlies listed, Gordon implied it was a political move in the last days of President Joe Biden’s administration. “It has always been clear the Biden administration had no intention of delisting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear,” Gordon says in the statement. “This latest move to keep a fully-recovered population on...

During a crisp early Wednesday morning on October 15, 2003, near Fortine, Montana, James Beeman used a .410 shotgun to shoot and drop a charging grizzly bear at three feet.James Beeman had been having problems with raccoons in the large chicken coop he had built, about 50 yards from his 3600 square foot home. At about 3:30 a.m., he heard an unusual noise, sort of a mew-mew, but he did not sense anything amiss. At 4:30 a.m., chaos erupted in the chicken coop.The coop was 36×22 feet, with a floor 4 feet above ground level to allow the chicken droppings...

A beloved grizzly bear known as an ambassador for her species was fatally struck on a highway in Wyoming, National Park Service officials said Wednesday. Grizzly bear 399, who got her name through a research number assignment in 2001, had a yearling cub with her when she was hit on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, authorities said. The cub's whereabouts are unknown, but there's no evidence to suggest that it was injured. The driver is OK, officials said. While the circumstances of the fatal crash were not immediately clear, authorities said 49 grizzly bears died because...

ISLAND PARK — Dangling from the jaws of a 530-pound grizzly, 20-year-old Riley Hill’s body flung from side-to-side as his hunting buddy Braxton Meyers fired round after round into the bear’s hulking frame. The grizzly’s ferocious teeth sunk deep into his arm, puncturing the skin to the bone, as he screamed and fought back during the longest 30 seconds of his life. “It was lifting me off the ground and then slamming me back on the ground,” Hill said. “… It was like playing tug of war with your dog, but he was playing it with my arm and ripping...

On August 20, 2024, Tyler Johnson, 32, and his father, Chris, were backpacking and hunting on the Resurrection Trail in Alaska. The trail is in the Chugach National Forest South of Anchorage, across the Turnagain arm of Cook’s Inlet. The north end is just South of Hope, Alaska. The trail is about 38 miles long. On the first day, the Johnsons had hiked in about 15 miles. The weather was great; it was about 64 degrees, and it was mostly sunny. Both men were in excellent physical shape. Hiking 15 miles in the mountains with heavy packs in a day...

A man in British Columbia stopped a grizzly attack by punching the bear in the face. Some Wyoming bear experts say that say might work, but isn’t something anybody should try unless it’s a last ditch option. ===================================================================== A man who stopped an attacking grizzly in British Columbia, Canada, by punching the bear the face was just as good as he was lucky, some experienced Wyoming outdoorsmen said. It’s possible to fight off a grizzly with a stout punch to the snout, but only as an absolute last-ditch tactic. “By that point, a lot of things will have gone wrong,”...

On July 10, 2024, a 19-year-old tourist woman and her boyfriend hiking in Romania were attacked by a European brown bear. The couple was on the emergency phone line with authorities as the woman and man followed directions on how to handle a bear. The woman was attacked, dragged off, killed, and partially eaten. The bear attacked authorities attempting to recover the body and was shot and killed.The European brown bear in Romania is a sub-species of the worldwide population of brown bears. The species includes the North American Grizzly, the Japanese Ussuri brown bear, the Kodiak bear, and the...

COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. — A man picking huckleberries in Montana shot and killed a grizzly bear after it attacked and injured him badly enough that he had to be hospitalized. The 72-year-old man was alone when the adult female charged him Thursday. He killed the bear with a handgun, according to a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks statement Friday. The attack happened in Flathead National Forest about 2 miles north of Columbia Falls, a northwestern Montana city of about 5,500 people, according to the state wildlife agency.

"A Massachusetts man was attacked by a grizzly bear protecting her cub in Yosemite National Park and lived to tell the tale. Shayne Burke was on his honeymoon with wife Chloe when he went off into the park to try to get pictures of a rare owl."

A grizzly that accidentally inflicted itself with a burst of pepper spray while attacking a hiker in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park won't be captured or killed because it may have been trying to protect a cub. ...the grizzly bit into the man's can of bear repellent and was hit with a burst of it, causing the animal to flee. The 35-year-old Massachusetts man, who'd pretended to be dead while he was being bitten, made it to safety and spent Sunday night in the hospital. There was no word when Signal Mountain or a road and trail to its 7,700-foot...

The man attacked and mauled by a grizzly in Grand Teton National Park on Sunday was amazingly lucky During the attack, the grizzly chomped down on his can of bear spray, which exploded it into her face and immediately ended the ordeal The out-of-state man who was mauled by a mother grizzly in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on Sunday apparently had a phenomenal stroke of luck when the apex predator essentially bear-sprayed itself. The attack on a 35-year-old Massachusetts man ended when the grizzly bit into his can of bear spray, bursting it into her own face, according to...

The Biden administration's plan to relocate grizzly bear populations to rural parts of Washington State will have a devastating impact on agriculture and livestock in the region while posing a significant danger to local communities, a fifth generation cattle producer warned. Residents of Washington State are doubling down on their concerns surrounding the federal government's plan to translocate grizzly bears, an apex predator, to the federally-managed North Cascades National Park, after the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the strategy their preferred plan for grizzly bear management in the region. The North Cascades National Park borders...

On December 18, 2017, the Canadian Province of British Columbia banned hunting of grizzly bears, except by indigenous tribes. It appears to be a natural experiment that will help determine the effects of grizzly bear hunting practices. Tribes known as “First Nations” are allowed to kill bears. The exact effect of the ban is not clear or precise. Taltan hunters still hunt the bears, but they are not killing enough of them. But when the B.C. government banned the grizzly bear trophy hunt in 2017, the system was thrown out of whack. While the Tahltan could still hunt for food,...

The grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states of the United States is the deadliest population of bears in the world. From 1975 to 2023, a population of under 2,000 grizzly bears has killed more people than all the grizzly/brown bears in Alaska.The current population of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states has grown to about 2,000 bears from the low of about 700 to 800 bears estimated in 1975. If the population has grown at a constant rate over the last 48 years, the rate of growth would be about 2%, and the average population over the...

Nature Ping. Vicious bear fight. Not for the squeamish. Recorded 3 June 2023 Filmed from a boat... We were watching a tranquil scene of 2 bears shagging on the beach…we thought how lovely…something you don’t see very often. Then we noticed another bear making its way towards them…he was on a mission…and he went in for the attack while our 2 lovers were still joined. She made a hasty departure. The guide we were with said the aggressor had killed and eaten a cub the day before…he seemed to have the blood lust…it was the longest 20 minutes of my...

As odd as it might seem, a train conductor confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that grizzly bears and other wild animals frequently get intoxicated on fermented grain spilled from rail cars, and too many of them end up getting killed as a result. Paul Summers told Cowboy State Daily he’s seen it with his own eyes. “Especially in the summertime, it’s common to see bears, including grizzlies, drunk on grain. You will see them wobbling,” he said. “You will see them staggering.” In fact, he said the bears’ own stubbornness often works against them, as they don’t want to move...

Two people and their dog were found dead at Banff National Park on Saturday after a grizzly bear attack. A GPS device alerted Parks Canada on Friday night, indicating a bear attack was happening within the Red Deer River Valley region west of Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Canada’s Banff National Park... Due to poor weather conditions, an emergency team reportedly could not fly to the location via helicopter, so they traveled by ground during the night. When the team arrived at the scene, they reportedly found two individuals who were deceased and ... The victim’s identities have not been...

The Biden administration unveiled a proposal to reintroduce grizzly bear populations in the federally-managed North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. ... As part of the announcement, the public is invited to comment through mid-November. ... “The National Parks Service and Fish and Wildlife Service should end this process immediately by rescinding the draft EIS and proposed 10(j) rule. The introduction of grizzlies into the North Cascades would be devastating for our North Central Washington communities,” said Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. “Time and again, our communities have spoken to express staunch opposition to the introduction of these...

A Navy veteran and businessman is in critical but stable condition following a bear attack Friday in Montana in which the bear tore off the man’s lower jaw, his family said Sunday. Rudy Noorlander, 61, was helping a hunting party find a deer when the attack occurred, his daughter KateLynn Davis said in a statement. The hunting party had rented all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) from Noorlander’s snowmobiling and ATV rental business, Alpine Adventures, in Big Sky, for the hunt. Noorlander encountered a bear and instinctively drew his firearm to scare it away “but before he could even have time to react,...

Wyoming’s most famous wild critters, Grizzly 399 and her "absolutely gigantic" cub Spirit, which has had a growth spurt, appeared this week for the first time in about a month, gorging on abundant forage in Teton National Park. Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, her cub of the year, Spirit enjoyed bountiful forage in Teton National Park when they recently made their first public appearance in about a month. Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, her cub of the year, Spirit enjoyed bountiful forage in Teton National Park when they recently made their first public appearance in about a month. (Courtesy Roam Wild Photo...