A beloved grizzly bear known as an ambassador for her species was fatally struck on a Wyoming highway, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.
Grizzly bear 399, who was named through a survey number assignment in 2001, was carrying a yearling cub when she was struck on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, authorities said. The whereabouts of the cub are unknown, but there are no indications that the cub was injured.
The driver is OK, officials said. Although the circumstances of the fatal crash were not immediately clear, authorities said 49 grizzly bears have died from vehicle collisions between 2009 and 2023.
Grizzly bears generally live around 25 years, although some live more than 35 years in the wild, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service. Grizzly bear 399 was 28 when she was killed.
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Wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen previously described the bear as his own muse.
“Her intelligence, her behavior, her beauty,” Mangelsen told “60 Minutes” in 2018. “The fact that she had all these offspring. There aren’t many bears that I know of that have had three triplets.”
In 2020, she was spotted with four cubs.
Mangelsen is not the only one who appreciates grizzly bear 399. People from all over the world followed her for decades, according to Hilary Cooley, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“At age 28, she was the oldest known female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” Cooley said.
Her identity was confirmed through ear tags and a microchip.
Before 1800, an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears lived in 18 western states, including Wyoming, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. By 1975, the population in the 48 contiguous states had been reduced to between 700 and 800.
After decades of being listed as endangered in the lower 48 states under the US Endangered Species Act, the population has grown to at least 1,923 grizzlies in the contiguous 48 states.
