Grizzly bear kills 27 sheep and 5 cows in the upper Green River.

What is believed to be one grizzly bear has killed 27 sheep and 5 cows in the upper Green River valley near the Wind River Mountains southeast of Jackson, Wyoming.  Coyotes in the area have killed additional sheep.

As a result Wyoming Game and Fish is  trying to trap bears near cattle and sheep herds. So far they've caught two black bears, but no grizzlies. Physical evidence at the site of the kills indicates that one grizzly, and possibly more, made the kills.  After a 60 year absence, grizzlies have begun to reinhabit the Wind River Mountains of NW Central Wyoming. Five adult grizzlies have been trapped and relocated in this general area in recent years.  All of them were radio-collared and relocated to Yellowstone Park.

The grizzly responsible for these dead livestock appears to be uncollared or one of the collared five whose collar is not functioning.  Just two of the collars appear to remain functional. If it is a returning bear, it will probably be killed. Otherwise it will be sent to Yellowstone.

Biologists who don't work for the state of Wyoming are increasingly of the opinion that putting grizzlies in Yellowstone who did not originate there is a bad idea -- the bears don't stay, and their presence disrupts and dislocates bears that are already established in the Park. The Park presently contains about as many grizzlies as its habitat can support, and recovery of the great bear requires land outside the Park because most biologists think a population of 500 or 600 is needed to reduce the probability of eventual extinction to low levels.

Of course, politics, not biology, rules in the Cowboy State. ----