Headless, pawless grizzly left in river by Montana wildlife officials stirs outrage
Wildlife officials said they killed a food-conditioned grizzly in a Montana river, then cut off its head and paws and left the carcass in the river. Photo courtesy of Deby Dixon
The headless, pawless carcass of a beloved grizzly bear sits bloated in a Montana river near Yellowstone National Park — serving as a grisly reminder of how residents “failed” the bear, wildlife advocates say.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff shot and killed the food-conditioned bear in the Yellowstone River on July 18 after it broke into multiple homes almost every night for nearly two months, sometimes while residents were inside, McClatchy News previously reported. Then wildlife officials cut off its head and paws and left the carcass there in the river.
A gruesome photo of the carcass surfaced online early Monday, July 22, taken by a river guide who spotted it in the Yellowstone River near Gardiner, KBZK reported. Many who saw the photo were upset, the station reported.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks spokesperson Morgan E. Jacobsen explained the decision to remove the head and paws from the carcass and leave the rest behind in the river. Wildlife officers shot the bear after it walked into the Yellowstone River, only minutes after it had broken into a house, Jacobsen told McClatchy News in an email.
“It was killed in the river because that location provided a safe opportunity for staff to do so, rather than staff attempting to shoot the bear in proximity to homes and people where the bear had been previously,” he said.
The carcass drifted down the river, under water and out of sight, Jacobsen said. “When FWP staff recovered the carcass, it was in a location where it could not be removed from the river due to hazardous access and the bear’s size (500+ pounds),” he said. “FWP staff removed the head and the paws in compliance with requirements from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to remove any parts of potential monetary value.”
Because grizzlies are listed as an endangered species in the lower 48 states of the U.S., it’s illegal to traffic grizzly bear parts, Cowboy State Daily reported. “Grizzly skulls and claws can be hot commodities in the illegal wildlife trade,” the outlet reported.
The agency had to kill another grizzly years before in roughly the same area, “and somebody got to the carcass before we could and took the head and paws,” Jacobsen told the outlet. “We didn’t want that to happen again.”
The agency will leave the carcass where it is — visible to people along the river.