Two young grizzlies have been found dead in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) south of Colter Bay.
Park biologists suspect a large male grizzly killed the two yearling cubs after finding tracks and signs of a struggle on the morning of May 13.
Grizzlies have killed each other in the national park before, Grand Teton National Park Bear Biologist Justin Schwabedissen said in a press release.
“While it is incredibly sad to see a grizzly bear lose its cubs, depredation by other bears is a natural source of cub mortality in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” he said, “bears exhibit a range of fascinating behaviors influenced by their biological needs, social structures, and environmental factors.”
Chris Servheen has led the Grizzly Bear Recovery Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for over 30 years. He said that female grizzlies with cubs avoid male grizzlies for this reason.
“That leaves the fringe, the edge, the road areas, human development as places where those females have to live,” Servheen said in an interview earlier this year.
The national park believes the bears were the cubs of Grizzly 1063 but won’t know for sure until a DNA test. 1063 and her three cubs had been “hazed” away in recent weeks after lingering with three cubs near Colter Bay, an area with campgrounds, trail and lake accesses and a restaurant.
Grizzly 1063 was reunited with her remaining cub on Thursday, according to the park.
The large male bear’s location, is unknown. There is no suspected management action for the male grizzly, officials said, but it will be monitored to see if it lingers near the developed area of the park.
It’s been a deadly month for the species as they wake from winter hibernation.
On May 6, a five-year-old male was found dead after being hit by a vehicle in GTNP. The bear was a descendant of world-famous Grizzly 399, who died last year, also from a vehicle collision.
In Yellowstone National Park, an 11-year-old male grizzly was euthanized on May 14 after repeatedly seeking food in a developed area of the park.
