Grizzly 399

The Grand Teton Wildlife Brigade was created in 2007 when Grizzly 399 appeared with her 3 one-year-old cubs alongside the road and became an instant international celebrity, attracting travelers from all over. Their mandate is to keep the people and animals apart and keep both from harm.[3] Grand Teton ranger Kate Wilmot relates that the situation the citizen "brigaders" face has "gone from a somewhat chaotic atmosphere the last couple of years to a completely chaotic one now," as social media has increased the popularity of the bears, and drawn more people to want to interact with them. "My official title is 'bear management specialist,' but the real challenge is managing the behavior of people."

Wilmot is in charge of 16 volunteers in the brigaders who work in the summer until snowfall. "If the brigaders weren't there and wildlife watching were allowed to turn into a free-for-all, we'd have injured humans and bears, dangerous situations with motorists, and people throwing food out their car windows," says Wilmot. "It would be a mess."[3] The brigaders carry bear spray, but their primary role is to persuade tourists to maintain the 100-yard viewing guideline established after the incidents with Grizzly 610.

Another issue they have to deal with is stopping people from feeding bears. Feeding bears can cause them to become aggressive or result in having to euthanize a bear who will not stay out of the garbage. The brigade tries to remind tourists of the role they play in the bear's fate. The brigade's success can be measured in the rarity of major incidents and bear removals.[3]

She has reared many successful progeny, including 16 cubs and grandcubs.[4] In mid-May 2020 she was observed with four new cubs born the previous winter.[5] She has taught her offspring habits to benefit from rather than be harmed by human proximity, such as loitering during the fall elk hunt to consume abandoned elk guts, and looking both ways before crossing roadways to avoid being struck by vehicles, a common cause of death among bears.

Despite this, at least three of her cubs have been killed due to human encounters,[6] including Grizzly 399's only 2016 cub, nicknamed 'Snowy' because of his whitish-blonde face coloration. In June of that year, Snowy was struck and killed by a car in Grand Teton National Park, an incident investigated as a potential hit-and-run accident.[7][8] In all, she has lost half of her descendants, due to encounters with people or male bears.[9]

Unlike the typical bear, Grizzly 399 regularly gives birth to triplets rather than twins. This typically has a paradoxical effect on the bear population. A mother bear with three cubs expends significantly more energy in caring for them, which can potentially decrease rather than increase the survival rate. Grizzly 399, conversely, has typically handled triplets well.[2] One of her triplets grew to also be a prolific mother (thus far the only one of her cubs to also produce cubs) and was tagged for research as Grizzly 610.[4][6] In 2011, Grizzly 610 had twins while Grizzly 399 had another set of triplets. The scientists observing the bears were concerned due to 399's advanced age, but to their surprise Grizzly 610 amicably adopted one of her mother's triplets.[2]

Grizzly 399 is known for having become habituated to people when near roads and mildly developed areas. A researcher determined that she seeks these roadside areas over backcountry because it is safer for her cubs, where male bears often try to kill them.[6][9] The fact that she spends much time near roads has also contributed to her popularity. In 2011, the sight of a mother grizzly bear and her three cubs near a road in central Grand Teton National Park was enough to cause traffic to come to a halt in both directions for miles. Near Jackson Lake Lodge, just below it, in Willow Flats, Grizzly 399 taught each set of cubs to hunt elk calves. She did this where the guests of the lodge could see unhindered.[3][9]

Wildlife photographer Roger Hayden started following Grizzly 399 from the beginning. He says she is usually found along the roadside near the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River. The number of photographers now following this grizzly has grown to maybe 40 or 50 as of 2015. "399 is considered the grand matriarch of the park’s roadside bears." [10]

In 2016, Grizzly 399 was feared dead after a hunter claimed to have killed her. Photographer Bernie Scates staked out a spot in Pilgrim Creek and waited for her to appear. She was running late in coming out of hibernation. On May 10, 2016, Scates became to first to see 399 emerge from hibernation, with one cub in tow. She came forth from the Bridger-Teton National Forest into the Grand Teton National Park with a white-faced cub following at her side. This news was quickly shared and celebrated online.[11] In 2017, Grizzly 399 was older than the age beyond which most brown bears usually breed. But on May 16, 2017, she had two cubs following her in a spring snowstorm.[12]

By 2015, Grizzly 399 was known to have acquired a full social media presence, although it is a mystery who is running the accounts. She has her own Facebook page, Instagram account, and a Twitter handle.[9] "These aren't just any bears", explains Thomas D. Mangelsen, a global wildlife photographer who lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "They might be the most famous grizzlies alive today on the planet. For all these people, catching a glimpse of them is the thrill of a lifetime." [3] Mangelsen has been following her movements for over ten years. Grizzly 399 dispels the stereotype that all grizzlies are agents of terror, says Bozeman, Montana, author Todd Wilkinson. "She’s more well-behaved a lot of times than people around her," he said. "But she’s wild", he adds.[9]

Hunters in the area said they would target 399 because she is the biggest trophy, the most famous.[16] Daryl Hunter, a wildlife photographer who has been following Grizzly 399, related a conversation with an outfitter in which the guide said, "I met a guy who wants Grizzly 399's rug on his wall, stating that because she is famous, she makes a better trophy".[11] Grizzly 399 spends part of the year in Grand Teton National Park, but also hibernates in the national forest which is not part of any park. Big game hunting is allowed there, so that is likely where hunters would have targeted her.[17]

For the 2018 hunting season, Montana had decided against a hunt. Idaho, with the fewest grizzlies, decided to allow hunting of only one bear. On May 23, 2018, a Wyoming wildlife commission voted unanimously on an approval for a grizzly bear hunt.[14] The Wyoming Game and Fish Department let a vote decide the number of grizzlies to be killed. The tally came to 22 grizzlies in a unanimous vote of 7-0.[15] The hunting season was planned for September 15 to November 15. This was to be the first authorized hunt in Wyoming in 44 years when they were first listed as endangered in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1975, at which time no hunting was to be allowed inside the national parks or the connecting road between them,[14] when the grizzly population had fallen to around 136 individuals.[15]

In 2018, Mangelsen helped fuel a movement that five women quickly organized called "Shoot'em With A Camera-Not A Gun." The object was to enlist people against trophy hunting to join the lottery for Wyoming's bear hunting licenses. The plan was to win a tag and keep it, so it would not be used to kill a bear. A tag would have authorized a hunter ten days in which to kill a bear, meaning that for each tag won by a photographer, no bear would be killed for ten days.[14] In Wyoming, approximately 7,000 people applied for bear tags. This list included Mangelsen and Jane Goodall, as well as many other well known conservationists.[15]

In July 2018, Mangelsen learned he was positioned high enough on a hunting lottery to actually receive a hunting tag,[15] but in September, just weeks before hunting season was to begin, a federal judge in Montana restored protection to all of the bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The judge ruled that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service officials were "arbitrary and capricious" when they removed protection from the bears under the Endangered Species Act.[18]