Wildlife photographer Patricia Lavin captured this image of then-26-year-old Grizzly 399 in September 2022. (Courtesy of Patricia Lavin)
This story was first published by WyoFile on Oct. 23, 2024.
Grizzly bear 399 — a 28-year-old bear known to millions of people and who was an economic force, drawing countless tourists to Jackson Hole — died late Tuesday in a Snake River Canyon vehicle strike.
The matriarch bruin who raised her cubs roadside in Grand Teton National Park for nearly two decades was fatally struck and later identified through ear tags and a microchip, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The whereabouts of her single cub are unknown.
“At this time, there is no evidence to suggest the yearling was also involved in the incident, but the service is monitoring the area,” the federal agency stated in a news release.
Grand Teton Park officials declined during a Wednesday press conference to offer more details of the crash, noting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating.
The Fish and Wildlife Service, in turn, provided sparse details of the circumstances of the collision, though spokesman Joe Szuszwalak did say that he heard the vehicle involved in the collision was “totaled.” The speed limit along Highway 89 in the Snake River Canyon, which connects Jackson to Alpine, is 55 mph.
There is no investigation into illegal activity relating to the accident, Szuszwalak said. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, he said, led the response to the crash.
A Fish and Wildlife Service staffer based in Jackson did respond to the scene, but the purpose of the visit was to monitor for the missing subadult. There was no evidence that the yearling grizzly was involved in the crash or remained in the area, Szuszwalak said.
Grizzly 399 first rose to prominence in 2006, when she began frequenting roadside areas in northern Grand Teton National Park with a three-cub litter. Over the next 18 years, she repeated the pattern every three springs, reemerging with a new batch of cubs. She once raised four cubs — an exceptional rarity — and in 2023, at age 27, emerged with a single cub, making her the oldest female grizzly alive with a cub in the entire Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. All told, she gave birth to 18 known cubs in the years following her own birth in 1996, according to Justin Schwabedissen, a Grand Teton bear biologist.
“The grizzly bear is an iconic species that helps make the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so extraordinary,” Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said in a statement. “Grizzly bear 399 has been perhaps the most prominent ambassador for the species. She has inspired countless visitors into conservation stewardship around the world and will be missed.”
‘She changed my life,’ Jackson Hole resident says
Many wildlife photographers and enthusiasts, and especially Jackson Hole resident Tom Managelsen delighted in the grizzly sow’s sometimes daily displays.
“She changed my life,” Mangelsen said Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve always been an advocate for black bears and cougars and wolves and everything, but she made it a lot more heartfelt, because I felt that I knew her.”
Longtime Jackson Hole wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, who owns the Images of Nature gallery, lines up a shot of Grizzly 399 and her four cubs in early 2023. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)
“I learned a lot from her behavior,” Mangelsen added. “She changed my whole view of bears and made me want to protect them, because I saw what a sentient, emotional animal she was.”
Along with her reproductive success and remarkable life story, the bear had certain habits that helped boost her appeal, Schwabedissen said.
“399 became so renowned over the years because she was raising cubs in areas where she was pretty visible to the visiting public,” he said. “It allowed a lot of people the chance to observe her in a wild habitat.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Schwabedissen recalled countless days over his 13 years in the national park observing 399 and her cubs — and watching people experience the transformative power of seeing bears in the wild.
“I think that’s what hits us today, is not just her passing, but also thinking about what she meant to the visitors and local residents and also to our teams and all the staff who have dedicated so much here in the park to her well-being and the long-term success of the bear population,” he said.
The grizzly sow and her offspring also helped inspire an array of “bearwise” protocols around Jackson Hole, he said, from electric fences around chicken coops to secure food and trash storage.
Grizzly 399’s worldwide fame
Grizzly 399 endured trials and tribulations and heartbreak — and her faithful fan club tracked it all. The last several years her life became more fraught as she frequented areas outside south of Grand Teton National Park.
The storied sow overcame incidents that frequently doom bears — like being purposefully fed — partly because state and federal wildlife managers gave her special treatment in recognition of her global fame.
Grizzly bear 399 and her four cubs of eat molasses-enriched grain left outside a home in the Solitude subdivision south of Moose in the fall of 2020. The homeowner, who was known by local wildlife managers to have fed moose on her property for years, was the subject of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation related to the grizzly bear feeding for potential violation of the Endangered Species Act. (Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
“People from around the world have followed grizzly bear 399 for several decades,” Hilary Cooley, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said. “At 28 years old, she was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”
A mother to eight litters over the years, Grizzly 399 was known for attracting preposterously large crowds. People would come to the park — even from other countries — just to see her.
“She’s touched hearts in every corner of the world, and that’s based on people that I’ve stood with on the side of the road,” Jackson Hole resident Cindy Cambell told WyoFile in 2023. “I’ve talked to people, and watched tears rolling down their faces when they’re minutes away from having to run to catch a plane to Portugal or Spain or China or Australia.”
An ambassador for grizzlies, Bear 399’s death adds to what’s been an especially deadly year for her species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She was the 66th known grizzly bear to die in the region 2024.
On average, 3.3 grizzly bears are struck and killed by vehicles in the ecosystem annually, according to Grand Teton National Park.
“Wildlife vehicle collisions and conflict are unfortunate,” said Angi Bruce, Wyoming Game and Fish Department director. “We are thankful the driver is okay and understand the community is saddened to hear that grizzly bear 399 has died.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.