Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Jimmy orr

Jimmy Orr

Jen Kocher - Headshot CSD

Jen Kocher

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

Human remains that were apparently scavenged by a bear, or bears, were discovered Sunday near Grand Mesa in western Colorado, officials there reported.

However, investigators haven’t found evidence that the unidentified person was killed in a bear attack before the bear(s) and “other wildlife” began eating the remains, 

Mesa County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of human remains at the Wild Rose Picnic Area of Land End Road, according to reports.

The Mesa County Coroner’s Office is trying to determine the cause of death and expected to release the person’s identity, although it’s not known when that will be, News 11 reported.

As of Friday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife wasn’t planning any further action, agency spokesman Luke Perkins told Cowboy State Daily.

The incident isn’t being treated as a possible bear-attack fatality, he said.

When asked if there was concern over whether eating from the body could cause a bear or bears to become acclimated to human flesh, Perkins said CPW doesn’t think there’s any “threat to human safety.”

Retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody said given the lack of information available it’s difficult to determine what that might mean in terms of bear behavior after eating the body.

"However, if it is true that a bear didn’t kill the person before eating from the body, the risk of that bear trying to eat more people is extremely low,” he said.

Bears are “opportunistic omnivores,” and happening upon a dead human body would be just another easy meal from the bear’s perspective, Neal said.

“If it was a one-off thing that doesn’t make that particular bear any more dangerous to human beings,” he said. “I would not think that just one taste would make that bear extremely dangerous.”

Moreover, if the body was in a state of decay, it would smell and taste much different than a live human, he added.

“It would just be another lump of rotten flesh,” Neal said.

There are other examples of wild carnivores eating bodies but not wanting to go after live humans, he said.

For example, when pioneers were pushing westward many died along the trail and were buried in shallow graves. That provided a morbid buffet for wolves.

“It became routine for wolves to dig up and eat human bodies, but they didn’t then start trying to prey on live humans,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Most Predacious’"}]

Grizzlies might evoke the most fear among humans, with reports of terrifying attacks. But male black bears can actually be the most dangerous in the Lower 48, Neal said.

Nearly all grizzly attacks are territorial, defensive or because a person surprised a bear at close range. Bears deliberately hunting humans is extremely rare, but male black bears are the most likely to do it, Neal said.

“A male black bear is the most predacious bear toward humans in the Lower 48. Polar bears are the most predacious of any species, but we don’t have to deal with them here,” he said.

A male black bear has to be “the biggest, strongest male out there” to win mating opportunities with females, Neal explained. And so, a big male black bear wanting to pack on the pounds might, in rare instances, see people as possible prey.

“They might see a human as a high-quality lump of protein. Sort of like a hot dog,” he said.

Male grizzlies, likewise, want to eat big to get big, Neal said. However, given their superior size and strength, they can take down large animals and don’t need to bother with humans.

Black bear getty 5 10 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Investigators Say Colorado Bear That Ate Human Remains Shouldn’t Crave People | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Investigators don’t think a bear or bears that ate parts of a human body found Sunday near Grand Mesa in western Colorado will develop a taste for people. They likely didn’t hunt the person, but instead scavenged someone already dead.

Investigators Say Colorado Bear That Ate Human Remains Shouldn’t Crave People

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

Four-year-old Charlee Lacey wants more “hero patches,” and her mother is on a mission to collect as many as she can from around the world. 

Charlee has been through more in four years than many people endure in a lifetime. That’s why she’s so eager to add the patches of law-enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders to her growing collection.

“Charlee recognizes first responders,” her mother, Stephaney, told Cowboy State Daily. “She will point to them and say, ‘They saved mine and my mommy’s life.’ She’s asked for more ‘hero patches,’ and she would love to continue adding to her collection.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rough From The Start"}]

Charlee’s short life has been an inspiring story of survival. According to Stephaney, her daughter was the result of “eight years of struggle” to start a family with her husband, Brian.

“I went into labor with Charlee at just 24 weeks,” she said. “We were life-flighted to the University of Utah Hospital.”

The doctors “guaranteed” Stephaney and Brian that their baby would be born alive, but “nothing beyond that.” Their hearts were shattered.

“We were expected to say goodbye to our little girl before we got to say hello,” Stephaney said.

The doctors managed to stop Lacey’s labor. Charlee was born at 39 weeks and 3 days, but her struggle was far from over.

“She was incredibly sick as a baby,” Stephaney said. “She would scream from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and vomited pretty much every time she ate. She spent her first Christmas at Primary Children’s Hospital because she would stop breathing to the point where she would turn blue.”

An ear, nose and throat specialist soon diagnosed Charlee with laryngomalacia, or extra skin on her larynx, which was collapsing on itself and slowly suffocating her. That explained her serious breathing issues.

The cause of Charlee’s sickness was the formula she had been given. That was a hard blow for Stephaney, as she hadn’t been able to breastfeed her infant.

“I suffered from severe Postpartum Depression, and the medication that I was prescribed was not safe for breastfeeding,” she said. “Being able to give my baby the love and care she deserved was a struggle.”

When Charlee was 2, her grandfather, Anthony Wackler, passed away from renal failure. Lacey said her daughter and father were “two peas in a pod” until his sudden death.

In June 2025, Stephaney had an ischemic stroke while driving, resulting in a car accident. Charlee was in the vehicle with her, but neither mother nor daughter was seriously injured.

In September 2025, Stephaney needed emergency surgery after doctors discovered that gallstones were causing some of her organs to shut down. Charlee was right by her side as she recovered.

“The ICU in Colorado had to bend the rules to allow Charlee in there to prevent me from leaving,” Stephaney said. “My little girl and I have always been inseparable.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came a tragedy that all families dread."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"“Mom’s Baby Ran Away”"}]

In September 2025, the Laceys learned they were expecting another baby. Stephaney said Charlee was “over the moon” about becoming a big sister.

Two months later, Frankie Lynn Lacey died in utero. The Laceys brought their daughter home “in an urn that fit in our palm.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Charlee, only 4 and autistic, blamed herself."}]

“She told us she was mean to the baby and the baby ran away,” Lacey said. “It destroyed me when another little boy at the library asked her if her mom was pregnant, and she told him, ‘No, my mom’s baby ran away.’

Stephaney and Brian constantly reassure Charlee that she did nothing wrong, hoping to soothe her grief as they grapple with their own.

“As much as I wanted to blame myself, how could I convince my innocent little girl that she did nothing wrong if I couldn’t even tell myself that I did nothing wrong? Sometimes these things happen, and nobody knows why,” Stephaney said.

Despite all she’s been through, Stephaney says her daughter “has the brightest outlook on life” and “everyone she hasn’t met is a friend.”

That’s where patches have helped stitch together the emotional threads of tragedy and loss.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Joy Of Something Simple"}]

Charlee’s patch-collecting journey started with a visit to the Rock Springs Police Department in June 2024. Chief Bill Erspaumer gave Charlee and her 15-year-old cousin, Mario Tuck, patches as they were leaving.

“They have cherished those patches and memories since that day,” Stephaney said. “Something as simple as a patch brought so much joy to my little girl.”

When Deputy Casey Watkins with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office learned how much Charlee loved her patch from the Rock Springs Police Department, he personally delivered one of his patches to her.

Charlee knows what she wants, as any discerning collector should. She specifically asks for patches from first responders, recognizing how they’ve saved her and her family’s lives in the past.

“First-responder patches are her favorites because she sees them as superheroes,” she said. “She points to them as says how they took us on an airplane, so she wasn’t born too early (and) they helped when mommy was sick.”

The scope of Charlee’s collection suddenly expanded when she received two new patches from Mike Conners and Caleb Proctor with the Clinton Police Department in Maine.

When Stephaney started sharing Charlee’s patch-collecting journey on social media, more patches arrived.

Steven Michael with the Wyoming Highway Patrol showed up to give Charlee one of his patches, along with a few he picked up from the New York Police Department and New York Highway Patrol.

Earlier this week, Charlee received a letter from “Matt,” who sent her an assortment of unique patches from North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii.

“One of the Hawaii Life Flight patches is very special, and not many people have (it),” Matt wrote. “(One patch) is in remembrance of three of our fallen heroes. Please take good care of them, and best wishes and luck to you.”

Stephaney continues to spread the word, hoping to find more patches for Charlee. She affectionately calls them “Charlee’s patch buddies.”

“We're looking for patches from all over the world,” she said. “We've had quite a few replies, and some people have sent photos of patches they’re going to send her. The hunt keeps getting more exciting.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Patching Things Up"}]

Stephaney knows Charlee is trying to comprehend everything that’s happened in her short life. She’s not old enough to fully grasp it, but she recognizes the people who’ve helped her when she needed it.

“We are a close family with nothing but love to give and appreciation for the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect ours,” she said. “Some people collect knives and coffee cups, but my little girl took an interest in first-responder patches.”

More than anything, Stephaney feels her daughter’s growing patch collection has helped her overcome the pain and grief that she still feels but can't understand. It’s given her something to enjoy amid a life of struggle and survival.

“We hope to bless our Charlee girl in the future with a sibling,” Stephaney said. “If it doesn’t happen, at least we have our Charlee in our arms, and our Frankie watching over all of us.”

Anyone with patches they’d like to contribute to Charlee’s collection can deliver them to this address:

[{"type":"text","text":"443 Valley View Lane #36"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Rock Springs, WY. 82901"}]

“Everything Charlee receives will be loved and taken care of,” Stephaney said. “I promise.”

Charlee 7 11 26

<title>Rock Springs Girl Saved By First Responders Collecting "Hero Patches" To Honor Them | Cowboy State Daily</title>

4-year-old Charlee Lacey knows she and her mother owe their lives to first responders, so the Rock Springs girl is on a mission to honor them by collecting "hero patches” from around the world. "She sees them as superheroes,” her mother said.

Rock Springs Girl Saved By First Responders Collecting "Hero Patches" To Honor Them

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

A Mexican national sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in jail for charging toward a Teton County Sheriff’s deputy with his box truck is trying to remain in the United States, his defense attorney said in court.

Ramon Gabriel Chavez Cruz, 46, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens’ court, to one count of aggravated assault.

He was arrested the night of June 4, 2024, after waging what court documents describe as repeated attempts to ram his truck into vehicles in the Snake River Canyon on U.S. Highway 89, between Alpine and Jackson.

The case affidavit by then-Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Mike Merritt compiles statements by drivers and their families. Those witnesses said they maneuvered in reverse and swerved into barrow ditches to escape Chavez Cruz’s head-on chases.

“The individual in the vehicle that attempted to collide with us deliberately crossed the centerline at a high rate of speed, targeted our vehicle, and attempted to kill my family,” the affidavit relates from the account of Roy Walters, who said he’d been in the back seat of a family vehicle while his son Eamonn drove, and Roy’s wife, Kate, sat in the front passenger seat. “By the grace of God and my son’s quick reactions the collision was barely avoided.”

The prosecutor, Teton County Deputy Attorney Claire Fuller, emphasized at Chavez Cruz’s sentencing hearing that only one of Chavez Cruz’s many, alleged head-on charges happened in Teton County.

The rest happened in Lincoln County, where County Attorney Spencer Allred is waiting to prosecute Chavez Cruz “to the full extent of the law,” Allred told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

Chavez Cruz struck a plea agreement with the Teton County Attorney’s Office, under which he pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated assault. That’s a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Fuller agreed to drop three  misdemeanors, including DUI.

And Owens, who accepted the agreement, sentenced Chavez Cruz to a split sentence: 180 days in jail followed by three years’ probation – with the threat of a two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half-year prison sentence remaining if he fails probation.

The 222 days Chavez Cruz has already spent in jail awaiting Tuesday’s hearing eclipsed his sentence and he’s to be released from Teton County. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office expects to take him into custody soon, a jail deputy confirmed to Cowboy State Daily Thursday.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s Allred’s understanding as well."}]

Chavez Cruz faces potentially much harsher consequences in Lincoln County, where Allred has filed eight counts of aggravated assault against him – one for each person he allegedly charged with his truck. Allred also filed a ninth count, misdemeanor reckless driving, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.  

It’s unclear what role, if any, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plays in this case. The agency declined to discuss Chavez Cruz’s immigration status, writing in a Friday email, “ICE cannot provide any information on this individual.”

Chavez Cruz has a special kind of immigration visa indicating he’s been a crime victim, Trefonas told the court.

“He’s a victim of some incredibly severe, traumatic physical crimes. And so were his wife and children,” said Trefonas. “That all led up to these events: working 24/7; having terror, trauma in his life – and some drug use.”

Trefonas said Chavez Cruz has accepted responsibility in the Teton County case. He’s from Oaxaca, Mexico, and “he’s in a legal process to remain in the United States lawfully, irrespective of these charges,” said Trefonas.

Chavez Cruz told Owens, “For every impacted person in my case, I feel really, really sorry for what happened. I’m willing to take every step to fix the situation – here and Lincoln County.”

While nearly all the drivers Chavez Cruz is accused of chasing with his box truck evaded uninjured, Eric Leonard did not.

Merritt responded to the canyon area at about 10:42 p.m. the night of June 4, 2024, while the two counties’ dispatchers received at least a dozen 911 calls about a violent driver, the affidavit says.

Vehicle descriptions ranged from RV to “semi-type truck” and the culprit vehicle was identified as a box truck registered to Chavez Cruz.

He’d incorporated a transport business called “Your Freight Guys” in Aurora, Colorado, two months before his arrest.

The 911 calls kept coming. Merritt “was advised the large truck had continued northbound toward Jackson after running a car off the road,” so the trooper asked Teton County Sheriff’s deputies to track the truck down while he pulled off to investigate a white BMW that sat in the ditch with its front end smashed and its air bags deployed.

Two men, Brian and Nolan Potts, were on scene. Brian was “visibly shaken up,” wrote Merritt.

Merritt found Brian’s friend Leonard in the BMW’s driver’s seat, and emergency personnel “being careful” about pulling him out because they suspected a back injury.

Leonard said the truck crossed from its northbound lane into his southbound lane to hit them.

“I swerved hard because he was coming directly at me, head-on,” Leonard recalled in a Friday interview with Cowboy State Daily. “When we went into the ditch we went airborne. I don’t know how long we were in the air, but I know we crashed down very hard, and I felt my back immediately.”

He broke his L2 vertebra, Leonard said. As of this week, he still struggles to load the dishwasher, he added.

The three friends had been hiking in Yellowstone that day and were headed back to a cabin Leonard rented in Alpine, using the BMW – which was also rented.

“Had I been on the other side of the road, I would have driven down in the Snake River,” Leonard said. “And then I’d be – probably not talking to you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Witnesses, More Witnesses"}]

Merritt interviewed a man and woman “hanging around” and trying to help. They were Michael and Kym Arian.

When they first spotted the box truck they saw another vehicle speeding backwards away from it as it chased to ram it “front to front,” wrote Merritt from the Arians’ statements. 

That backward driver was later identified as Josh Petrey, and his passenger as Kara Petrey, the affidavit says.

The box truck halted in the middle of the road. The driver got out of the vehicle and ran toward the vehicle it had blocked onto the road, screaming, “Why are you following me!” says the document.

The driver got back into the truck and “took off,” then “made it a point to drive at the Arians in an aggressive manner, trying to ram their vehicle off the road,” Merritt recounted from the alleged victims’ statements.

Michael Arian was able to dodge. Then he followed the box truck while calling law enforcement. And that was when he and Kym saw the crashed BMW and stopped to help, reportedly.

[{"type":"text","text":"Why Are You Following Me?"}]

Another set of witnesses, Brian, Jodi and Colten Cook, wrote a later email to investigators saying they were halfway through the canyon that night “when a big cargo truck pulled sideways on the road, blocking both lanes.”

They thought the driver was attempting a turn in a “terrible place to try and turn around, because he was blocking both lanes of traffic,” the account says.

Then the man got out of the truck and ran toward them shouting “why are you following me?” and the driver of the Cooks’ car threw it into reverse to escape him, says the affidavit. The Cooks said the driver got back in his truck and tried to “run over” a car headed south toward Alpine.

The Cooks kept driving, flashing their headlights at other cars. They watched other cars swerve into the barrow pit, as the cargo truck kept “chasing us,” the account says, adding,  “This happened at least 12-15 times.”

“At one point he was chasing us and trying to run us over from behind,” the account says. “As soon as we were able to get cell coverage, we called 911.”

Josh Petrey’s email to investigators says he and Kara saw the truck parked across both lanes of the canyon and waited for it to move, but it was empty. Then the owner got into the truck, and Josh backed up to give him room.

“He then (started) trying to ram us,” the account says. “I reversed going between 20 and 30 mph. I zigzagged from one side to the other so he could not get any momentum.”

Josh Petrey assumed the driver got upset with this tactic. The driver slammed on his brakes in the middle of the road and got out of the truck, reportedly.

Josh Petrey rolled down his window to find out if the man was all right, he recalled.

“Have you had enough?!” yelled the driver, while charging the Petreys’ car on foot, says the account.

Josh Petrey sped past him and around his truck, where two other vehicles sat waiting. Josh rolled down his window and told the driver of a white truck to leave the area.

“We sped off and warned two different vehicles not to head that way, because the guy was unhinged,” wrote Josh Petrey.

He and his wife made it to Alpine, within cellphone signal range, and called 911.

Merritt’s affidavit includes an account from Marcus Loefverstrom, who recalled driving down the road with his wife and 11-month old son.

The family met multiple vehicles with their lights flashing “aggressively to warn me about something.”

The family saw a truck change lanes and head toward them; Loefverstrom tried to veer to the right into a rocky ditch, but realized that plan was no good, he wrote.

“I made a last-ditch decision to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid him on the left,” Loefverstrom wrote. Fortunately, the lane was clear. But they narrowly missed a head-on collision with the truck, reportedly.

“My wife remembers waking up to headlights right in front of our car. A near miss,” wrote Loefverstrom.

Loefverstrom watched other cars veer off the road. The driver of a Jeep asked if the family were OK and when Loefverstrom said they were, that driver “rushed off,” he recalled.

Loefverstrom called another family member, who was still in town, to tell her not to leave town yet.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Walters family gave a similar report, wrote Merritt."}]

The box truck crossed lanes “and attempted to head-on us,” wrote Roy Walters in his statement. Roy’s son Eamonn veered onto the shoulder, but the truck “tracked us and continued to try to collide with us,” the account says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roy’s wife Kate added that they were trying to get home to Etna."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"They saw Leonard in the crashed BMW and pulled off to help him."}]

“He was shaking and moaning,” Kate recalled. They gave him a blanket and water.

[{"type":"text","text":"Against The Guard Rail"}]

All of that happened in Lincoln County, allegedly. The case to determine whether Chavez Cruz is guilty of all those claims is ongoing. It was charged two years ago: June 26, 2024, but is now becoming active since Teton County has concluded its case against Chavez Cruz, said Allred.

Teton County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Johnson was still in Teton County as he responded to 911 calls about a “crazy driver,” Fuller said in court.

There the box truck crossed both lanes and charged him so that he had to “suck up to the guard rail to avoid being hit,” Merritt’s affidavit says.

Deputies converged, and stopped the box truck in Teton County. The truck driver informed them he thought he “was one of them,” the trooper wrote.

Investigators noted a Delta 8 edibles package in the truck cab, open and empty, added Merritt.

“Teton County got lucky in this case,” said Fuller at the sentencing hearing, adding, “The people in Teton County got lucky, I should say. The defendant’s actions began in Lincoln County.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Two Years Later"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Leonard was frustrated Tuesday. "}]

He had a hot-mic moment in the virtual court hearing in which he called Chavez Cruz a “career criminal.”

He voiced disappointment afterward to Cowboy State Daily, of the sentence Chavez Cruz received.

“I was mortified,” said Leonard. “And kind of sickened, to be honest with you.”

But the case isn’t over, as Lincoln County prepares for its nine-count prosecution.

While Teton County authorities charged Chavez Cruz one day after his arrest and he promptly bonded out, Allred didn’t charge the man for another 21 days that June.

At the time it seemed to Leonard that Chavez Cruz had vanished “into the wind.” He filed a bar complaint against Allred.

That didn’t rise to the level of ethical misconduct, Allred, told Cowboy State Daily. 

But Allred didn’t know about the case while Teton County authorities were both charging and releasing Chavez Cruz, the prosecutor countered in his own Thursday interview.

“I was not even informed about this case until two weeks later. I didn’t have anything from law enforcement – they hadn’t given me anything,” said Allred, adding that without the investigation report, he couldn’t file the case.

[{"type":"text","text":"Once he received the affidavit, he said, “I immediately filed.”"}]

Allred also said the bar complaint went nowhere, since the claims against him didn’t rise to the level of ethical violations. The prosecutor will need to work with Leonard in the case ahead, Allred acknowledged.

“I don’t have anything against Mr. Leonard. He will certainly be a key witness in our case against Mr. Cruz,” he said.

Chavez Cruz posted a $15,000 bond and was released from the Teton County Detention Center soon after his June 4, 2024, arrest.

Then he committed crimes in Colorado, according to a booking document Cowboy State Daily has obtained, and statements made in court Tuesday.

Chavez Cruz told Owens he’s on probation; his attorney Elisabeth Trefonas clarified that’s due to crimes he committed in Colorado after the box truck incident.

Cowboy State Daily has placed a records request for that case disposition and charges with Colorado’s judicial branch.

When Chavez Cruz didn’t appear for a Jan. 28, 2025, hearing, Owens issued an all-states bench warrant for his arrest. Teton County collected him into custody and he appeared for court in December. By the time of his sentencing he’d spent a collective 222 days in jail. 

His case also involved evaluations to determine whether he was mentally fit to face court proceedings.

[{"type":"text","text":"For several weeks, he wasn’t, the court file indicates."}]

But Owens reversed course late this winter after another evaluation indicated Chavez Cruz had become competent. She declared him fit for court.

Trefonas said Chavez Cruz had also been found incompetent at some point in his Colorado case. 

Meanwhile, Leonard has also filed a civil lawsuit complaint against Chavez Cruz in the federal U.S. District Court for Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","text":"That case is paused to allow the prosecutions to unfold."}]

It’s unclear if ICE has a detainer or other ongoing proceedings involving Chavez Cruz.

Jackson sheriff and sign 7 10 26

<title>Mexican Trucker Accused Of Furious Canyon Rampage Trying To Stay In U.S. | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Mexican national who faces eight felonies is attempting to stay in the country after he allegedly chased down and tried to ram travelers off the road in Snake River Canyon. He "deliberately crossed the centerline and targeted our vehicle," one victim said.

Mexican Trucker Accused Of Furious Canyon Rampage Trying To Stay In U.S.

A Lovell man says he’s reasonably sure a bear he briefly spotted off Dayton Gulch Road in the Bighorn Mountains last week was a grizzly.

Casey Jones told Cowboy State Daily he saw the bear at about 3:30 or 4 p.m. July 2, and caught a video of it.

“The hump between the shoulders, that’s what got me to thinking it’s a grizzly,” he said during a telephone interview Thursday when he had brief service from the Bighorns.

His father, Levi Jones of Lovell, posted the video on social media, igniting a debate over whether the bear is in fact a grizzly or a member of the Bighorns’ significant population of black bears.

A Lovell man says he thinks a bear he spotted off Dayton Gulch Road in the Bighorn Mountains last week was a grizzly. Casey Jones took a quick video of the bear and said,"The hump between the shoulders, that’s what got me to thinking it’s a grizzly."

CSD Staff

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