The grizzly that mauled, killed, and partially ate a Yellowstone hiker is dead.
The Associated Press reported that Yellowstone National Park officials euthanized the sow after DNA confirmed she was the bear that killed Lance Crosby, 63, near the park’s Lake Village area.
Crosby was a nurse in the park’s medical clinics. He was reportedly hiking alone and without bear spray when he was attacked by a sow with cubs.
Rangers found Crosby’s body August 7 and located the sow that night. She and her cubs were the only bears reported in the area, and hair samples and bite analyses confirmed the attack.
The bear was euthanized August 13. Her cubs will be moved to a facility with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
What makes the case particularly noteable is the grizzly not only mauled and killed Crosby but partially ate him. She then covered his body as if it was a typical meal.
A grizzly burying its kill is not unusual in itself. Theodore Roosevelt wrote of shooting several bears by using the remains of his big game kills as bait. The bear would eat its fill, cover the carcass, and then retreat to a nearby area to rest. Roosevelt would sneak close and await the bear’s return to the cache of meat.
Likewise, sows with cubs are known to be aggressive. Mothers are far more likely to attack than a solitary male. But the two behaviors are rarely if ever reported together.
The adult female bear was killed because it had eaten part of the Crosby’s body and hid the rest, which is not normal behavior for a female bear defending its young, according to Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett.
Bears are not necessarily killed after they attack. If the bear is behaving in a natural way and attacks in defense of its young, officials may not have the bear euthanized. This was not one of those cases.
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