OUTDOORS... Idaho grizzly bear found dead after being shot

Idaho wildlife officials are asking the public to help find the person who shot and killed a grizzly bear near Island Park, according to a news release from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Officials said an adult female grizzly was found shot dead in Clark County, a rural part of eastern Idaho, on Sept. 2. The news release said the bear was in a drainage near Lower Shotgun Road west of the Island Park Reservoir. 

Grizzlies in Idaho are protected by federal and state law. It’s illegal to harm or kill one unless you’re acting in self-defense. 

Fish and Game conservation officer Barry Cummings said in the news release that “no detail is too small” to share with the agency.

Anyone with information on the case can contact Fish and Game’s Upper Snake Regional Office at 208-525-7290 or call the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999. Tipsters can also report online at idfg.idaho.gov/poacher. 

Two grizzlies have been shot and killed in self-defense incidents near Island Park this year. The area, which neighbors Yellowstone National Park, has Idaho’s highest concentration of grizzly bears.

In one instance, a man shot a grizzly that charged him and his girlfriend as they unloaded items from their vehicle at their home. The other incident occurred one day before the poached grizzly was found. Two archery elk hunters shot and killed a male grizzly after it knocked one of them to the ground and bit him. 

Fish and Game determined that the killings were justified. 

In June, a male grizzly bear was shot and killed at a bait site near St. Maries by a hunter after he sent a video of the bear to Fish and Game a few days prior to the shooting and asked if it was a grizzly or a black bear. 

"The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear," a press release said. "Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly and shared that misidentification with the hunter."

In June 2023, another hunter shot and killed a male grizzly bear north of Upper Priest Lake. The hunter said then he thought it was a black bear.

The penalty for illegally killing a grizzly bear is steep, as they are protected under the Endangered Species Act. A person convicted of poaching a grizzly faces a $50,000 fine and one year in prison. A father and son from Ashton killed a grizzly in 2021 and incurred thousands of dollars in fines, as well as a lifetime hunting ban.