Western Exposure

Grizzly mama and cub dead; cub on way to Bronx zoo

By August 19, 2009March 19th, 2015No Comments

So ends the life of the ‘Old Man Lake female,’ a troublesome grizzly who for 10 years had been growing increasingly, disturbingly friendly to campers in West Glacier National Park. Monday, she was shot and killed.   Protesters said humans should leave, not the bears. But in the end, the bears are gone.

“They shot her at dinnertime, and by dark only one cub was still alive, trapped and sedated and headed for a zoo in the Bronx. The other succumbed to the tranquilizer.

“This was it,” said Jack Potter, chief of science and natural resources at Glacier, of the bears’ final beeline for the Old Man Lake campground. “This was exactly the type of situation we’ve been worried about, the type of situation we’ve been warning about. It had to end.”

No zoo wanted the 17-year-old grizzly mom. The only solution, it seemed, was a bullet. Read more in the Missoulian.

Rita Hibbard

Rita Hibbard

Co-Founder

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