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Another Black Bear Put Down, This One In Yellowstone National Park

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By Kurt Repanshek - July 10th, 2008

For the third time in a week a national park black bear has been killed, this time in Yellowstone National Park where rangers said the bruin posed a threat to visitors and park employees.

The bear, which was a brown-hued sub-adult male, had been aggressively approaching visitors in the Beaver Lake Picnic Area and the Indian Creek Campground. It also was able to obtain a significant amount of human food.

Park officials say that based on the animal’s aggressive behavior, lack of fear of people, and its success at getting human food, the decision was made to capture and kill the bear.

Repeated efforts to trap the bear were unsuccessful. However, it was spotted walking next to a road Wednesday morning, allowing the animal to be successfully darted and captured by park staff members. The bear was taken to park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs and euthanized Thursday morning.

This is the first time Yellowstone National Park has euthanized a bear in over two years.

In the past seven days two other black bears were killed in the parks -- on in Denali National Park and Preserve and another in Grand Teton National Park.

Comments

Submitted by jsmacdonald on July 13, 2008 - 8:51pm.

I just got back from a weekend in Yellowstone. One of the sad things we saw was a coyote persistently looking through a picnic area in search of human scraps. Despite our efforts to keep him away by scowling at him, he continued on throughout the picnic area to another group of tourists. The tourists there had a dog. They were encouraging their dog to get into a fight with the coyote. This idiotic show - looking like a twisted version of what we've seen with wolves and coyotes on television - went on for awhile. Eventually, we left sensing too much danger for ourselves - with a 9-month-old baby. They wouldn't listen to us as we yelled warnings.

First, the coyote seemed to know there was food there. Then, what good does it do to encourage a dog fight? The owners seemed to be enjoying it.

Very disgusting. Otherwise, a very beautiful time in Yellowstone ... Lone Star Geyser and Mystic Falls with our son ... it was so lovely.

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World


Submitted by jsmacdonald on July 13, 2008 - 11:03pm.

And an interesting twist on this!

7/14/08
Park: Tourists not to blame in bear death
(by Noah Brenner Jackson Hole News and Guide)

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World


Submitted by admin on February 18, 2009 - 1:59pm.

because he was a threat to the well being of all humans in the park or even in the areas that they may have relocated him to.


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