He did shoot the bear, and many assumed it would die. They were right.
It was found in Little Trail Creek near Gardiner, Montana with part of its jaw blasted off. It had one or two year cubs which are still in the area.
Story in the Billings Gazette.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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I think it’s disgusting that a Yellowstone safety officer shot
this bear, where was his bear spray? why was he not better prepared, after all he was hunting in grizzly country.
What will happen to the cubs? Do they still need their mother?
Bear spray isn’t going to stop a bear that commited. But it is disgusting that another bear (bears?) is removed from the population by humans. What is it with Homo sapiens? It’s the only animal that creates an environment toxic to itself and doesn’t even realize it.
Julieann,
I think the cubs were yearlings and will probably have a pretty good chance on their own.
My personal experience is that bear spray, properly applied, will stop a very, very, very committed bear; but, aside from that question, I am deeply bothered that someone who is cashing paychecks as a safety professional in the Park would be caught without bear spray, during the fall pre-den feeding season, in an area that is well-known for both bears and gut piles at that time of year. I believe that this issue should be the one on the table because, if he isn’t competent on a safety question so simple and so fundamental to anyone cashing a paycheck as a safety professional in the GYE, then he shouldn’t be cashing that paycheck. This should end his career, not because he encountered a bear while hunting or even because he shot a bear under these circumstances, but because he, as a safety professional who should have known better, got into this situation and was not carrying the most basic of safety equipment under those circumstances.