Grand Teton park forced to kill bear due to visitors’ “poor decisions”

A black bear was euthanized at Grand Teton National Park last week, in a move that park officials blamed on the “poor decisions” of human visitors.

“We need to be clear—this bear was lethally removed because of poor decisions made by park visitors,” the park said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to help keep bears wild: Never leave food unattended, even for a moment.”

Staff were forced to kill the animal on Friday, Sept. 11, after observing what the park described as “a concerning pattern of behavior, both from the bear and visitors,” which “escalated over several days.”

The bear was repeatedly approaching humans around Delta Lake, in a remote section of the Wyoming wilderness area, the park said. When they began monitoring the animal more closely, park staff found it was “unusually difficult to haze away,” suggesting the bear had been conditioned by the prospective reward of human food.

Preventing bears from learning to relate food sources to humans and their space is important, the National Park Service writes on its website. That’s because it’s difficult to revert a bear’s behavior once it has begun to associate places like campgrounds or picnic areas, where humans frequent, with food that they desire; the animal may begin to aggressively pursue that food source, according to the park service, which notes how this can put people in danger.

In Grand Teton, park managers felt the bear’s “repeated food rewards,” along with its increasing proximity to visitors, were consistent with food-conditioned behavior. It “created an unacceptable safety risk” for people who may cross its path, the park said. Staff euthanized the bear in the Delta Lake area and removed its carcass from the backcountry the following morning.

The park urged people to seal and pack away any food items they may have with them if they see a bear approaching. 

“A bear that gets a food reward can learn that approaching people pays off,” the park said. “What may seem like a small decision in the moment can have serious consequences for the bear, other visitors and park staff. Help us keep bears wild by making the right choice every time.”

Grand Teton staff had been aware of the bear since earlier in the year, when they received several reports about a black bear approaching visitors at Delta Lake. But the park said there wasn’t enough information at the time for management to gauge whether the bear’s behavior signaled food-conditioning or an isolated group of incidents. After euthanizing the animal, it also explained its reasons for killing the bear instead of relocating it.

“Translocation is an important tool, but it isn’t always a safe or effective option,” the park said. “In this case, after considering the bear’s behavior and the circumstances, wildlife managers determined that other options had been exhausted and the bear posed a clear risk to human safety. Lethal removal is always a last resort.”