Huge Crowd At Dedication For Gigantic Grizzly 399 Sculpture At Jackson Museum

Grizzly 399 delighted and inspired millions of people during her 28-year life in Grand Teton National Park.

Now, she’ll do the same at the front of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson.

"Against All Odds: Grizzly 399,” a life-and-three-quarter-sized bronze sculpture of Grizzly 399 and the four cubs she birthed in 2020, was unveiled at the museum Wednesday to a packed crowd of her fans.

It’s now a permanent addition to the museum’s collection, right outside the main entrance.

Hundreds of people attended the Wednesday evening ceremony, marking the triumphant return of “the Queen of the Tetons” to her home. Jocelyn Russell, the bronze artist who sculpted the larger-than-life grizzly, told everyone there her work now belongs to the world.

“We hope that we have fulfilled everybody's hopes and dreams to have a piece here at a national installation where millions of people will come,” Russell said. “She was so beloved, and she belongs to each of you individually.”

There Will Never Be Another

Barbara Landreth and Gerri Walker from Boise, Idaho, were camping at Colter Bay when they heard about the dedication. Landreth called it “a once-in-a-lifetime” moment they couldn’t miss.

“This will never happen again. There may be other bears, but there'll never be another 399,” she said.

Walker was moved by the size and meticulous attention to detail. She felt it appropriate that the grizzly that served as an international ambassador for conservation should have a permanent place where people could continue to be inspired by her.

“This is just marvelous,” she said. “What touched me is the reminder that if we need to bring this to the people, and especially the children, so they fall in love with nature. This is what it's about. We're all connected.”

Russell said the sculpture is 99 inches tall and weighs more than 1,300 pounds.

“I found out about (her death) on Nov. 1, 2024,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s been 22 months since we started. If we’d gotten a few more days, it would have been 99 weeks.”

‘That Got Me’

The sculpture emerged from the Adonis Bronze Foundry in Alpine, Utah, during the first week in September. From there, it was transported to Jackson via a flatbed trailer.

A convoy of vehicles, including a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, followed the sculpture into the Snake River Canyon. When it reached the wooden post marking the spot where Grizzly 399 died, struck by a vehicle on Oct. 24, 2024, it slowed down while the sculpture overlooked the spot where she perished.

“I did cry on that one,” Russell said.

She wasn’t the only one. Wilson resident Cindy Campbell said the effort to memorialize Grizzly 399 in bronze “had not penetrated my heart” until she saw the sculpture pass by the spot where the grizzly died.

“Watching the trailer carrying 399, looking out over the Snake River Canyon where she followed the river a bit farther than usual, lost her life, and left her young cub … wow, that got me,” she said. “I just love how big it is, just like her impact on the world, and from what I’ve seen, it represents her personality well.”

The statue rolled through Jackson, even stopping at Pilgrim Creek in Grand Teton National Park, before being permanently installed at the museum.

World Fell In Love With Her

“Against All Odds” started as an earnest effort to do something — anything — to memorialize Grizzly 399. The cause became The Grizzly 399 Legacy of Love Project, spearheaded by the non-profit Angels Without Wings in February 2025.

“Angels Without Wings is devoted to those angels who walk among us celebrating the extraordinary bond between people and animals, and the inspiration that animals bring to our lives,” Robin Hutton, president of Angels Without Wings, said at the unveiling. “There's no better example of an angel without wings than Grizzly 399.”

The sculpture was funded entirely by individual donations, rather than a single commissioner. Hundreds of people worldwide contributed amounts ranging from $1 to more than $100,000.

That, to Hutton, spoke of Grizzly 399’s impact on the world. 

“Her story touched people all over the world,” she said. “People who never met her felt like they knew her. People traveled great distances, as I know many of you have today, just for a chance to see her. Families introduced their children to her story. Photographers followed her. Scientists studied her. Artists were inspired by her, and countless people simply fell in love with her.”

Down To Every Detail

In her studio in Friday Harbor, Washington, Russell sculpted Grizzly 399 as accurately as possible, down to the details of her eyelashes and each individual claw. Her assistants, Kristen Douglas-Seitz and Colleen Moore, each sculpted two of the four cubs.

The sculpture began as a small clay maquette, which was scanned and scaled into a full-sized foam model, covered in clay for fine detailing, and shipped to the Adonis Bronze Foundry for molding and the bronze pour.

Experts and 399 aficionados were consulted to ensure the sculpture resembled the real Grizzly 399 as closely as possible. Russell pored over photographs from every angle, revising details throughout the 22-month process to ensure everything was perfect.

“We sculpted the quads as they appeared in June-July 2020,” Russell said. “We didn’t want them as big as they were in 2021, but not super tiny either.”

According to multiple people, the hardest part of capturing Grizzly 399 accurately was her derriere.

“Her butt was never big enough,” Russell said.

Rather than depict Grizzly 399 standing, Russell wanted her sculpture closer to the ground and the people, in a nurturing pose with her cubs around her.

“I hope people will be very hands-on with the monument,” she said. “They should be able to touch 399 and her cubs. It will bring something special to everyone’s heart.”

Sent Her Surrogate

The final speaker was Jackson wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen. He was as synonymous with Grizzly 399’s story as was possible.

The first thing Mangelsen said was that the crowd gathered for the unveiling “looked like a 399 jam” — fitting for the grizzly who acquired her fame by being so visible to Grand Teton visitors, who flocked by the hundreds everywhere she was spotted.

“I have to say that Jocelyn and her team, with the help of a lot of other people, have created a really incredible representation of 399,” Mangelsen said. “I don't think it could have been done better.”

Mangelsen said that as he was working on what he wanted to say, a mother grizzly and two cubs passed in front of one of the windows of his home.  

“I have bears come through there off and on, and had 399 numerous times, but it was like, ‘What the hell are you doing, 399? You sent your surrogate,’” he said.

Mangelsen added that the best way to honor Grizzly 399’s legacy was to defend her home and kin going forward, so that nobody could “steal the experience” of seeing grizzlies from anyone else.

The sculpture, meanwhile, was “a wonderful piece that 399 would be very proud of.”

“I've been blessed very much, and so lucky to have met her, and met a lot of you out there,” he said. “I really appreciate all the people who've donated to making this monument happen.”

The Final 399 Jam

Once the remarks concluded and the sculpture unveiled — “5, 4, 3, 9, 9!” — Grizzly 399 and the quads were surrounded by a dense throng of people. It will probably be noted as the final 399 jam.

Fittingly, the space where “Against All Odds" is placed had been vacant since the National Museum of Wildlife Art opened in 1987.

“She will welcome and inspire our museum visitors as they come to visit, and we're grateful to be a part of that,” said executive director Steve Seamons. “This monument gives us a place to reflect on what she represented: Resilience, wildness, and the fragile balance between people and the animals we share this landscape with.”

For Russell, it was an exhilarating and bittersweet moment. She noted how empty her studio felt without Grizzly 399 and the cubs inside.

Because Grizzly 399 was an apex predator, Russell will remember the sculpture as “her apex project.” Her greatest reward was giving her work to the world, she said.

“It's not just about me,” she said. “Everybody here made this happen, and I'm glad to be a part of it. We had some blood, sweat, and tears in it, but she's here, and she's forever.”

Campbell didn’t attend the unveiling but fully intended to see the sculpture in the near future. After seeing Grizzly 399 pass through the Snake River Canyon one final time, she wanted to have a moment with the iconic grizzly.

“I look forward to visiting it in private someday,” she said. “Having 399 and her cubs back home feels comforting.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.