Grizzly That Killed Cattle Put To Death

Wildlife officials have for the first time killed a grizzly bear for preying on cattle inside Grand Teton National Park.

The bear, long known to wildlife officials as Grizzly No. 209, was given a lethal injection Sunday, hours after state wildlife officials captured it on designated grazing land.

The 9-year-old, 550-pound grizzly had killed dozens of cattle in the last three years, and had preyed on 10 calves in the last two weeks alone, wildlife officials said.

Several times, the bear had been moved to a more remote area of the park, and the grizzly had strayed back repeatedly, said Dave Moody, large predator coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

“There was nowhere in the Greater Yellowstone area to relocate him that he would not return from,” Moody said. “We were out of options in managing No. 209.”

Moody said zoos did not want the bear and other states would not take Wyoming’s problem bears.

Fewer than 1,000 grizzlies survive in the lower 48 states.