Grizzly bear group to study mortalities

BOZEMAN – A significant rise in the number of grizzly bear deaths last year will be a principal topic when bear managers from around the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem gather next week in Bozeman.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team reported 48 known and probable grizzly deaths, 37 of which could be attributed to human causes. Twenty of those human-caused deaths, or 54 percent, were due to hunter conflicts.

The number is up slightly from an ecosystem count last fall, when wildlife managers reported 44 deaths. The numbers exceeded both male and female mortality management limits.

If female deaths exceed the 15 percent threshold for one more year, wildlife managers could decide to return the grizzly to federal Endangered Species Act protection.

Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem were delisted two years ago.

Louisa Willcox, senior wildlife advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the number of bear deaths last year rivals the days when Yellowstone National Park closed its dumps and large numbers of human-habituated and food-conditioned bears got into conflicts in and around the park.

“What happened last year is on a scale of what happened after the dumps closed,” she told Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News & Guide.

Wildlife managers take the mortality spike seriously, but one year is not cause for panic, said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Indeed, we had a spike last year,” Servheen said. “We had a high number of mortalities … but we also know that the population continued to increase.”

The Yellowstone Grizzly Coordinating Committee will meet Wednesday and Thursday.