Yellowstone National Park rangers on Wednesday put down a female black bear that had come to rely on humans for food.
The 100-pound bear, estimated to be four or five years old, was the fourth bear to die in the park in June. Previously, a year-old grizzly was a hit-and-run victim on U.S. 191 on the western edge of Yellowstone, a yearling grizzly was accidentally killed in a trapping incident, and a female black bear was killed in yet another hit-and-run accident.
In the latest incident, park officials said the black bear had been frequenting Bridge Bay Campground, the Gull Point Picnic Area, and Lake Village. She had gotten into human food, "and on one occasion ripped open an occupied tent in the campground," they said. "She had also been following and approaching hikers on the nearby Elephant Back Trail."
While attempts were made to convince the bear humans should not be associated with food -- shooting the bear with bean bags and firing cracker shells -- those efforts were unsuccessful and the decision was made to put the bear down, park officials said. Wednesday morning the bear was trapped and then euthanized, they said.
Yellowstone officials stressed that visitors need to keep food, garbage, barbecue grills and other attractants stored in hard-sided vehicles or bear-proof food storage boxes when not in use. This helps keep bears from becoming conditioned to human foods, and helps keep park visitors and their property safe, they said.
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Comments
Face it, as ugly as it is, there is no remedy for a bear who discovers humans are a source of food. It's sad to put down a wild animal, especially one associated with cuddly, furry toys, but there's no real alternative.
They should make posters of this incident and plaster them all over the campgrounds as a lesson: put your food away in bear-safe containers!!!
I do not understand why she had to die. There has to be a place she could have gone.
This makes me sick. People need to be EDUCATED about how their actions impact every living thing around them. They need to know that if they feed the bears for great photo opps (or whatever reason) they will be held accountable. What can we do to educate more people? Most Americans sit and watch lots of TV. Maybe we could reach them through commercials or something. Whatever we are doing now is not quite enough. When we see ignorant people getting too close to the bears in the Smoky Mountains we have started photographing them and sending it in. I know of one person who went to the rangers immediately because they saw people picking flowers and digging up plants. The rangers pulled them over and fined them. I don't know. . . . . this is so sad to sit and watch our wildlife harrassed and killed because people are too ignorant or just don't care enough about the world around them.
Sad....the loss of these bears and other wild life to peoples ignorance or carelessness is unforgivable.
I wish the danged tourists would learn -
I was told of the bear when checking into Bay Bridge Campground Tuesday night and heard a gun shot early Wednesday morning. Sad to hear that this was likely the outcome of the gun shot...
Just to point it out the article read that the bear was trapped then euthanized. The Park Service would never shoot a bear with the public around unless there was an attack in progress.
Will, rangers shoot animals all the time, even with the public nearby. They usually do it if the animal is injured (hit by a car) and they want to end its suffering.