A 72-year-old man in Montana shot and killed a grizzly bear that attacked and injured him while he was picking huckleberries on national forest land. It is believed the bear was acting defensively to protect her cubs. Wildlife officials are monitoring the area with game cameras to determine if there are cubs present, and are considering leaving them in the wild if found. In a separate incident, a different adult female grizzly was shot and killed near Yellowstone National Park after becoming accustomed to seeking out food from people and breaking into houses. It is believed pet food, garbage, and barbecue grills left outdoors contributed to the bear’s behavior.
Grizzly bears in the contiguous U.S. are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, but some elected officials in Rocky Mountain states are pushing to lift their protected status, potentially allowing for future hunting. The incident in Columbia Falls was about 300 miles away from the one near Gardiner, where the bear was killed. There are an estimated 2,000 grizzly bears in western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and western Montana, with several thousand more in the Canadian Rockies and Alaska. Wildlife managers may capture and move problem bears, but will kill ones involved in attacks on people or deemed likely to continue causing issues even if relocated.
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