A beloved grizzly bear known as an ambassador for its species was fatally struck on a Wyoming highway, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.
Grizzly Bear 399, who got her name from a search number in 2001, had a 1-year-old cub with her when she was struck on a highway in Snake River Canyon, south of Jackson, officials said. the authorities. The child’s whereabouts are unknown, but there is no indication that he was injured.
The driver is OK, authorities said. Although the circumstances of the fatal crash were not immediately clear, authorities said 49 grizzly bears died due to vehicle collisions between 2009 and 2023.
Grizzly bears typically live around 25 years, although some in the wild live for more than 35 years, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service. Grizzly Bear 399 was 28 years old when he was killed.
Wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen previously described the bear as his muse.
“Her intelligence, her behavior, her beauty,” Mangelsen told “60 Minutes” in 2018. “The fact that she had all these offspring. To my knowledge, there aren’t many bears that have had three sets of triplets.”
In 2020, she was spotted with four cubs.
Mangelsen isn’t the only one who appreciates grizzly bear 399. People from all over the world have tracked him for decades, according to Hilary Cooley, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“At 28 years old, she was the oldest known breeding female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” Cooley said.
Her identity was confirmed by earrings and a microchip.
Before 1800, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, there were approximately 50,000 grizzly bears living in 18 western states, including Wyoming. By 1975, the population of the 48 contiguous states had fallen to between 700 and 800.
After decades of being listed as threatened in the lower 48 states under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the population has grown to at least 1,923 grizzly bears in the contiguous 48 states.