A grizzly carcass left in the Yellowstone River with its head and paws cut off is that of a well-known Yellowstone bear, Grizzly 769. Wildlife officials said they removed the parts after killing it last week so they wouldn’t end up on the black market.
Residents in a small Montana town were saddened angered when they learned a headless grizzly carcass left in the Yellowstone River was a troublesome but popular bear well known to townspeople.
The 15-year-old male was Grizzly 769, a bear dubbed the Blacktail Lakes Bear, wildlife photographer and Gardiner resident Deby Dixon told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Dixon had followed and photographed Grizzly 769 since she moved to Gardiner 12 years ago.
People Upset About Carcass In River
Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) wardens shot and killed the bear last week after repeated break-ins in and around Gardiner, a town located at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
FWP officers said the bear was killed after they tracked it from another house it had raided to the Yellowstone River, where they shot it.
The bear’s carcass was left in the river after FWP wardens cut off and confiscated its head and also its paws.
The agency said it took the grisly step to make sure that those bear parts wouldn’t end up on the black market, where grizzly skulls and claws are a popular item.
“I’m seeing a lot of comments online about it, people are pretty angry,” Dixon said. “I’ve been hearing about it here and there. People who are floating the river are upset about it, because they float right past the carcass,” she said.
The carcass was left in the river because it ended up in a spot where it couldn’t be safely recovered, FWP spokesman Morgan Jacobson told Cowboy State Daily. Read More…