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Grizzly bear 399, one of the best known bears in the world and the oldest recorded reproducing female grizzly in the greater Yellowstone area, was struck by a car and died Tuesday south of Jackson, Wyo. She was 28.
Nicknamed “399,” she was adored by millions as she lumbered along busy roadsides, often with her cubs in tow. Photographers and tourists flocked to see her each spring and summer, and her portraits appeared on the covers of books and hung in fine art galleries. More than 55,000 people follow an Instagram account created for her, and a PBS documentary called her the “Queen of the Tetons.”
“She was very much an accidental ambassador for her species, and what a great ambassador she was,” said Jack Bayles, co-owner of a Jackson-based wildlife tour company called Team 399.
But the factors that brought fame to 399 also placed her in frequent contact with humanity, ultimately putting her at grave risk. She perished after a summer of near-record grizzly bear deaths in the Yellowstone region.
“She didn’t deserve to go out like this,” Mr. Bayles said.
Grizzly bears were once hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction in the Lower 48 states. Researchers now estimate more than 1,000 of the animals roam the Yellowstone region, a vast area that covers portions of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The animals have yo-yoed on and off the endangered species list in the last couple of decades.
Some conservation advocates argue the species still requires federal protections because of threats that include food scarcity caused by climate change and human-caused deaths like the one that befell 399. Many wildlife managers, particularly in western states, argue not only that bear numbers have recovered, but also that grizzly hunting should be allowed.
Grizzly 399 was collared in 2001 during a monitoring effort by federal wildlife biologists. They gave her the number 399, indicating she was the 399th bear trapped in the region. Her collar eventually fell off. When officials caught her again in 2016, they left behind an ear tag that helped fans identify her in the wild, Mr. Bayles said.
Grizzlies usually avoid humans and roads. But 399 seemed to enjoy both. Despite her willingness to be seen, she largely avoided behavior that has resulted in the lethal removal of other bears that became habituated to people, like raiding garbage cans, stealing food from bird feeders or munching on cattle.
She was a “kind and gentle soul,” said Mr. Bayles, who once watched her playing tag with her grand cubs while her daughter, the cubs’ mother, looked on.
Bear 399 raised 18 cubs, including a rare litter of four, making her one of the most productive bears in the ecosystem. Her frequent sightings along roads in and around Grand Teton National Park led to lengthy bear jams as drivers vied to take her picture. In 2021, she and her cubs meandered through the mountain town of Jackson, with local police officers tagging along as an escort, said Frank Van Manen, leader of the U.S. Geological Survey interagency grizzly bear study team.
Her propensity for visiting roadways was dangerous, as her death on Tuesday showed. On average, three bears typically die in car collisions each year in the area, Dr. Van Manen said, and she was the second of 2024.
However, more bears in the Yellowstone region are killed by federal wildlife officials than by anything else, including vehicles, largely when bears prey on cattle grazing within core grizzly habitat, Dr. Van Manen said. While he said the bear population continues to increase, citing more than 200 cubs born annually, there have been nearly 70 recorded grizzly bear deaths in the Yellowstone area this year.
Wildlife managers killed 28 to protect cattle, and 16 because of threats to humans including bears gaining access to human foods. People killed 11 in self-defense, and the remainder died in accidents with causes like electrocution by downed power lines and drowning in irrigation ditches. The total number nears the record number of deaths set in 2018.
Creating a celebrity animal like 399 may bring support and attention to a species, but it also risks creating expectations that humans and grizzlies can live close to one another, said Mark Bruscino, a grizzly bear biologist who retired from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“We have to remember that they’re grizzly bears and can be dangerous,” he said, noting that even 399 injured a hiker in 2007 when he surprised her and her cubs as they fed on an elk carcass. “Human habituation, particularly with a food-conditioned bear, can lead to dangerous situations for people.”
Mr. Bayles hopes people learn not just from 399’s life — lessons of resilience and tolerance — but also from her death. On Wednesday afternoon, he and his wife went to the highway where 399 died. Some drivers were traveling well over the speed limit, he said. He hopes people will learn to slow down and protect the broader population of wildlife and the ecosystem where 399 lived.
“There will be other bears,” he said, “but there will never be another 399.”
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