A popular grizzly bear beloved for two decades by countless hikers, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton National Park has died after being hit by a car in western Wyoming, the Associated Press reported.
Grizzly bear No. 399 died Tuesday night on a highway running through the Snake River Canyon, the park said in a statement. The bear was at least 28 years old and is the oldest female grizzly in the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem. Every spring, wildlife enthusiasts waited for her to emerge from her den to see how many cubs she had given birth to over the winter.
Named for the identification tag researchers placed on her ear, she amazed everyone as she continued to give birth well into her old age. The lifespan of a grizzly bear is approximately 30 years. Unlike many others, she was often spotted near Grand Teton roads, attracting crowds and traffic jams. Scientists hypothesize that this behavior kept the male grizzlies at a distance so that they did not pose a threat to her cubs.
At the time of the impact, the bear was with her one-year-old cub, who was not injured, but his whereabouts are unknown, according to the statement. The driver was uninjured. No further information about the crash was released.
News of the bear’s death spread quickly on a Facebook page that follows the lives of the female grizzly bear and other wildlife in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Several hundred people posted comments calling the bear a “queen” and a “legend”. For many people, her death is a tragic loss, many expressed concern for her bear, writes BTA.