Petition questions killing of popular bear

MOOSE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming wildlife managers decided to euthanize a popular grizzly bear in the Jackson Hole area after Grand Teton National Park officials asked them to capture and relocate the animal, the officials said.

The bear known by its ear tag as Grizzly No. 760 had been a popular subject for photographers but had a history of venturing too close to areas inhabited by humans.

A Game and Fish official said the agency had tried before to keep the bear in the Jackson Hole area east of Yellowstone National Park but it kept having run-ins with people.

The killing has sparked an online petition by wildlife photographers and others seeking an explanation from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

“Park biologists had conversations with Wyoming Game & Fish Department related to the capture and relocation of bear 760 and expressed an interest in keeping him relatively close,” park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

Grand Teton officials supported the need for the bear to be moved away from a subdivision, Skaggs said, and acknowledged the location decision belonged to Game and Fish.

The bear had been moved last year and kept within the Jackson Hole area. This year, after being moved to an area five miles from Yellowstone’s east entrance, the bear wandered more than 40 miles through the Absaroka Range and ended up along Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River.

The bear pulled a hunter’s deer out of a tree and reportedly charged a vehicle. State wildlife managers captured and killed the bear with a lethal injection on Oct. 27.

Game and Fish considered but decided against Grand Teton’s request to keep the bear closer to Jackson Hole, according to Game and Fish large carnivore manager Dan Thompson.

“There’s no advantage to us setting up an animal for failure,” Thompson said. “Everything we do is for the long-term viability of the bear and for human-safety reasons.”

The previous attempt to move the bear was unsuccessful, he said. In 2013, after the bear was frequenting Lizard Creek Campground in Grand Teton, wildlife managers moved it not far away.

“It didn’t work,” Thompson said. “It came right back.”