A record 65 grizzly bears died in 2018 in the Yellowstone region. A whopping 250 are known to have died just since 2015, and almost all of these deaths are attributable to human-related causes. With stats like these in mind, Guardians and allies are calling on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee to update its outdated report on grizzly bear conflict prevention.
The current report dates from 2009 and is both outdated and largely unimplemented. Guardians and allies asked the committee to develop additional recommendations to prevent conflicts between bears, people, and livestock. We also asked that it consider additional recommendations to prevent conflicts, such as a publicly available database of encounters and mortalities.
“It’s crucial that we end the unnecessary deaths of these iconic bears,” said Guardians’ Taylor Jones. “Updating the science and establishing best practices for nonlethal coexistence is key to the survival of the Yellowstone population of grizzlies.”
Read the press release.
