Grizzly bear. Photo by Latham Jenkins/circumerrostock.com

The Greater Yellowstone area’s grizzly bear population is being threatened by hunters and climate change, a recent Associated Press story reports.

Scientists believe that since the grizzly bear began making its comeback after being listed as an endangered species, the bear has moved into regions that it has not lived in decades. As a result, many bears have been killed by hunters trying to protect themselves after getting too close or mistaking it for another animal.

The AP reported that federal authorities believe that out of the 48 bears killed by humans in the 15,000 square mile Yellowstone area last year,  at least 20 of them were killed by hunters defending themselves or believing they were a different animal.

In addition, a changing environment is threatening the bears natural habitat and food sources, the story said.

“An epidemic of beetles in Yellowstone’s high country has laid waste to tens of thousands of acres of whitebark pine trees, which have seeds that some grizzlies rely on as a dietary staple,” the article stated.

The grizzly bear population has grown an average of 4 to 5 percent a year, scientists report. But a high death rate has some researchers worried that the bear’s population could be in trouble again as i’s territory returns to its original boundaries.  It was delisted in 2007 after bear populations began to respond to a recovery program.

Earlier this week, we ran a brief about Grand Teton National Park’s warning that both grizzly and black bears were out of hibernation in Jackson Hole. Park officials cautioned residents and visitors to the parks to be alert to possible bear run-ins.

Jackie Skaggs, the spokeswoman of the park, said grizzly bears have moved further south in the valley as their population is restored, and the bears seek out areas of habitat they once occupied before human settlement. So, while it may seem odd to thing of a grizzly visiting your trash bin on East Kelly, it is, in fact, his great grandfather’s natural stomping grounds.

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