A black bear was euthanized at Grand Teton National Park last week after park officials said the animal’s behavior had been shaped by visitors’ “poor decisions” around food.
“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.”
Park staff killed the bear on Friday, Sept. 11, after witnessing what officials called a “concerning pattern of behavior” involving both the animal and park visitors. The situation worsened over several days, the park said.
The black bear had repeatedly approached people near Delta Lake, a remote area of the Wyoming park. As rangers increased their monitoring, they found the bear was “unusually difficult to haze away,” an indication that it may have been conditioned to expect food from humans.
The National Park Service says preventing bears from connecting people and human spaces with food is critical. Once a bear begins associating campgrounds, picnic areas or other heavily visited places with something to eat, reversing that behavior can be difficult. The animal may then become increasingly aggressive in pursuing food, creating a serious danger for visitors.
At Grand Teton, managers concluded that the bear’s “repeated food rewards,” combined with its growing willingness to approach visitors, matched the signs of food-conditioned behavior. Officials said the bear posed an “unacceptable safety risk” to anyone who encountered it. Staff euthanized the animal near Delta Lake, and its carcass was removed from the backcountry the next morning.
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The park urged visitors who spot an approaching bear to immediately secure and pack away all food items.
“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 known about the bear since earlier in the year, after receiving multiple reports of a black bear approaching visitors at Delta Lake. At that point, however, officials said they did not have enough information to determine whether the encounters reflected food conditioning or were isolated incidents. Following the euthanization, the park also addressed why wildlife managers did not relocate the bear.
“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.”