Cory Hatch recently (25th) published an interesting story in the Jackson Hole Daily about grizzly mortality in the Park.  Here’s part of the story….

Grizzlies in the region have so far suffered unusually high mortality rates this year, likely because of a dearth of natural food sources, the area’s most prominent grizzly bear researcher said Wednesday.

Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team leader Chuck Schwartz said officials tallied 25 known and probable grizzly mortalities. Twenty-two of those mortalities were human-caused, two of the deaths resulted from natural causes, and the cause of one death was undetermined. For every bear that was reported dead, two more deaths likely went unreported, Schwartz said….

…Nine female grizzlies older than 2 years were among the reported dead: three from management actions, four from hunting incidents, and two from natural causes. Wildlife managers say these so-called “independent age females” have the biggest impact on the grizzly populations.

In all, Schwartz said a conservative estimate for the overall grizzly population in Yellowstone is 571 bears. This year, Schwartz’s team documented 50 females with cubs of the year. The average litter size was 2.16 cubs….

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