Grizzly Bear 399 has successfully weaned her four offspring, which is normal for female grizzly bears with two-year-old cubs. These young bears will eventually disperse to establish individual home ranges. Residents of Teton County should expect that these bears, and other recently weaned individual bears, could travel through their neighborhoods in pursuit of available habitat.

Young bears have a higher potential to become emboldened in seeking out foods in and around human development, especially if they have learned to acquire food there in the past. When this food-conditioned behavior occurs, management options for bear and human safety become limited. As interagency and community partners, BearWise Jackson Hole, Teton County, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue our collective efforts to proactively prevent conflicts between bears and people in Teton County. However, the potential for conflict is high, and we need your help. Please secure attractants of any kind and be bear wise.

During the last two years, grizzly bear 399 and her cubs spent a significant amount of time near residential areas and received numerous food rewards. These events serve as a critical reminder that all of Teton County is in occupied grizzly bear habitat. Living and recreating in bear country requires awareness and actions on our part to keep both bears and humans safe. As the grizzly bear population expands within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, bears continue to disperse across their historical range but also into more populated areas. Unfortunately, more often than not, “a fed bear is a dead bear.”

Properly storing all attractants to ensure a bear does not obtain a food reward is crucial to keeping bears wild and humans safe. BearWise Jackson Hole, Teton County, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like to thank Teton County residents for their efforts to secure bear attractants this spring. Grizzly bear 399 and her offspring foraged naturally on private property for nearly two weeks with no conflicts recorded. This goes to show that our efforts and dedication as a community paid off. Let’s keep up the great work.

Please immediately report bear sightings and any conflict activities in your local community to the bear management professionals with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, so we can respond properly to reduce conflict potential between bears and people.

BearWise Jackson Hole was established in 2006 as a local chapter of the Wyoming Bear Wise Community Program and is a partnership between Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Grand Teton National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, and Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation. Our objective is to minimize the accessibility of unnatural attractants to bears and educate residents and visitors about bears and conflict prevention.



Jeff
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