10th Grizzly Relocated Within Park County in 2021

Another grizzly – the tenth this year – is banished in Park County after taking the fall for another bear trying to get an easy meal near Meeteetse.

Once again. Wyoming Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked together to capture and relocate a grizzly bear near Meeteetse. But, unlike most relocations, the bear in question was not the guilty party – just guilty by association.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured an adult male grizzly bear on Sunday, October 10, 2021. The bear was captured while attempting to mitigate conflicts associated with livestock feed on private lands west of Meeteetse.

But the grizzly captured not the individual responsible for the conflicts around Meeteetse. Because of this, the adult male grizzly was relocated to the Carter Mountain area, along the South Fork of the Shoshone River, approximately 18 miles southwest of Cody.

This Meeteetse bear is the tenth grizzly relocated within Park County and the Bighorn Basin in 2021.

Several grizzlies have already been relocated to areas within Shoshone National Forest. This grizzly is the fourth relocated out of Pinedale this summer alone.

• An adult male was captured near Meeteetse and relocated to the Sunlight Creek drainage in mid-April.
• An adult male was captured near Meeteetse and relocated to the Jojo Drainage in late April.
• A sub-adult male was captured near a North Fork guest ranch and relocated to the Fox Creek drainage in late June.
• An adult male captured near Pinedale and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in early July.
• A sub-adult female was captured near Pinedale and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in late July.
• An adult male captured near Thermopolis and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in mid-August.
• A subadult female was captured near Pinedale and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in late August.
• An adult female was captured near Dubois and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in early September.
• An adult male was captured near Pinedale and relocated to the Five Mile Creek drainage in mid-September.

Grizzlies are only relocated if they do not pose a threat to human safety – but human decisions can still lead to bear conflicts,

Bears are relocated in accordance with state and federal law and regulation. However, Wyoming Game and Fish continues to stress the importance of the public’s responsibility in bear management.

All attractants – food items, garbage, horse feed, birdseed – should be secured and unavailable to foraging bears, especially in the fall. Like many other animals, bears are actively seeking as much food as possible in anticipation of winter and, in the bears’ case, hibernation. Reducing attractants available to bears reduce human-bear conflicts.

Please visit the Bear Wise Wyoming page on the Wyoming Game and Fish website for more information on grizzly bear management and reducing the potential for conflicts.