Wildlife agents captured an adult male grizzly Friday that killed cattle on private land near Cody, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department reported Monday.
The grizzly was taken to the Glade Creek drainage about 2.5 miles south of Yellowstone National Park and released.
The bear didn’t have a chronic record of attacking cattle, Game and Fish large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“This bear was not a chronic offender or we likely would have sought to lethally remove the animal from the population,” he said. “Cattle depredation by grizzly bears is our most common type of human-grizzly bear conflict throughout northwest Wyoming.”
Cooperation With Feds
The grizzly was captured “after consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS),” Game and Fish reported.
Grizzlies remain under federal Endangered Species Act protection in the Lower 48 and are primarily under FWS jurisdiction.
“Grizzly bears are relocated in accordance with state and federal law and regulation. Game and Fish is required to update the public whenever a grizzly bear is relocated,” according to the agency.
Grizzly Killed For Killing Cattle In Bighorns
Grizzlies are captured and relocated in or near the grizzly recovery zone, which includes the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
There is no known established population of grizzlies in Wyoming’s Bighorn mountains, which are not in the recovery zone. Nevertheless, rumors of grizzly sightings there have persisted for years.
A grizzly was finally confirmed in the Bighorns in April 2024. That bear, a subadult male, was killed by wildlife agents after attacking cattle near Ten Sleep.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
