Grand Teton National Park black bears are plentiful and fairly visible, but feeding them is illegal. Two visitors recently were cited for feeding bears, and a sow was put down because she had associated humans with food/NPS file photo
A female black bear at Grand Teton National Park was destroyed and her two cubs shipped out of state to a zoo because they been fed fruit by visitors.
Two Grand Teton visitors were recently cited for illegally feeding wildlife within the park. On Thursday, October 4, visitors in two separate vehicles along the Signal Mountain Road were observed feeding fruit to three black bears, the park release said. The bears, a sow and two cubs of the year, each received several food rewards during the incident and made contact with several vehicles along the road.
Feeding wildlife creates a safety risk for humans as animals associate people with food; bears can also become aggressive in seeking additional food, especially when preparing to den for the winter. Animals that are fed by humans also have an increased likelihood of being drawn to roadways and killed by vehicles.
The maximum penalty for feeding wildlife is a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail. The individuals cited most recently are to make their initial court appearance in mid-November.
Since June, these bears have been frequenting several developed areas in the Signal Mountain vicinity in very close proximity to people, the release noted. Park staff and volunteers spent hundreds of hours trying to keep park visitors and these bears at safe distances from each other, near a busy park campground and lodging area.
In early August, two people sitting on the beach near Signal Mountain Boat Launch were startled by the bears and left a pack unattended. The sow found and ate an apple from the pack.
Due to the bears’ comfort with humans in developed areas, and, most importantly, behaviors that associated humans with food, posing an unacceptable risk to public safety, the three bears were captured and removed from the park. The loss of these animals removes the opportunity for this bear family to contribute to a healthy, wild population and for visitors to enjoy them in their natural setting, the park release said.
The adult female, approximately 4-5 years of age, was not a good candidate for an educational or zoo facility and was euthanized. The opportunity to place wild bears in an accredited facility is not always an option. The cubs are being relocated to Oswald Bear Ranch in Newberry, Michigan. The facility provides educational opportunities about bears and information about how to protect their natural environment. Park staff followed National Park Service policies as well as guidance from agency veterinarian to conduct all actions in a humane manner.
Comments
Why weren't the bears relocated to a different part of the park. It is wrong to destroy a bear just because they were a threat in an area.
Did you not read the article? She was too old to relocate and not a good candidate.
What often looks like open habitat to us is usually occupied and defended by other animals. When explaining this kind of tragedy to children, I sometimes asked if they'd be willing to share their beds and dinners with an assortment of unknown children who could be dropped off without permission or warning, fully expecting shared access to toys, electronics, clothing, savings, etc. Also, habituated bears that have learned to associate humans with food will simply continue to seek out humans.
The main point...a mother bear was destroyed due to human disregard for laws that protect the animals and humans. We are visitors in their habitat. Feeding wildlife creates an unnatural communication between the animal and human creating a food Association. This Mama was destroyed due to human selfishness. A deceased Mother. Two cubs without their mother who will live within the confines of a zoo. Shameful disregard.
Different area of the park? No. They would either be able to get back to where they originated in a day, or they would look for handouts from whatever people are in the area where they're relocated. It's been tried before and proven to not work.
We relocated lots of bears in Yellowstone when I worked there. They sometimes beat us back to their usual grazing grounds. If they didn't beat us. they were back the next day. Those critters can cover a lot of miles in a very short time.
Bears aren't generally territorial. Many coexist in the same area and avoid each other. Even brown bears, as is seen every year at Brooks Camp during the salmon run.
However, you're certainly correct in that habituation with human food sources will reduce a black bear's natural instinct to avoid humans - whether it's the garbage/other food sources or possibly intentionally feeding them. Being "rewarded" with easy, high-calorie food will condition them to expect it and overcome that fear. I've even heard of cases where a bear that was used to getting handouts got aggressive when someone approached and there were none.
I was in Yellowstone in the late 1960's when bear feeding was a common -- and even almost an approved -- visitor activity. At Norris Campground, we normally had two or even three bears in the camp every night. There were literally dozens begging along roadsides. We would drive out to the dump near Tower Junction to watch and photograph bears. (NPS people could use our keys to open the gate.) Injuries to people and bears was very common. The harmful effects of feeding were often grotesquely obvious. One I remember seeing frequently was bears with candy or bread wrappers hanging in the fur near their exhaust pipes. (Unlike the bears that advertise the toilet paper on TV, these bears didn't usually try to clean themselves.)
In the summers of 1965 and 1966, two graduate students from the University of Colorado (I think it was), conducted studies in which they trapped black bears and tagged them with colored ribbons in their ears. Vic Barnes and Olin Bray then distributed little cards that all of us carried in our pockets. When we saw a bear, we'd record time, place and ribbon colors with a description of what they were doing.
Vic and Oley were able to establish that there were two distinct black bear populations -- backcountry and roadside bears. Because courts were starting to award considerable tort fines to visitors who had been damaged by bears, the park finally decided to "relocate" the roadside bears.
In spring and fall of 1968 and '69 something like 240 black bears were relocated to the Great Garbage Can In The Sky. With those bears gone, enforcement was possible and has been very effective in keeping things under control since then.
It was really a black time in the world of Yellowstone's black bear population. But few people outside the park ever heard of it.
I have a bunch of photos and some great stories of Vic and Oley and perhaps if Kurt is interested I'll whomp up something to share them.