Who's Killing the Grizzlies of Fremont County?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The Lost Local News Issue

Who’s Killing the Grizzlies of Fremont County?

Grizzly bears are protected under federal law. When three were killed in an Idaho community, it didn’t seem like a coincidence.



A grizzly bear on a road at night, captured by a trail camera in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The forest is in Wyoming, more than 100 miles away from Idaho’s Fremont County.

By Natalie Schachar
NOVEMBER 30, 2021

Natalie Schachar is a journalist in Victor, Idaho. Natalie Behring is a photojournalist based in Victor. This story is set in Fremont County (population 13,000), which has one weekly paper, the Island Park News. Portraits were taken with a trail camera.

It was still frigid this past mid-March when the female grizzly in Idaho’s Island Park area shook off her slumber and left the den, her 6-to-8-week-old cub anxiously awaiting its mother’s return. The elder’s fur was thick, her stride heavy. Most likely, she was crossing the snow-covered landscape in search of early spring vegetation or a fresh kill when the shooter raised their weapon and took aim, pouring multiple bullets into her flesh. Perhaps she stumbled forward or back, or sought to soothe her wounds in the cool waters of the Little Warm River, some 10 miles from Yellowstone National Park as the crow flies.

When authorities picked up a mortality signal from the grizzly’s collar on a routine flyover and proceeded to investigate, they were taken aback by what they saw: The grizzly’s carcass was partially submerged in the river, scavenged by wild animals. Her cub had succumbed to hypothermia or starvation back in the den. “Obviously, it’s never a good thing when we find the animal we’re looking for is dead, so, yeah, definitely surprising,” said James Brower, spokesman for the Upper Snake Region of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “Then all sorts of things go through your head. What may have happened, trying to put together a scene.”

The killing was a brazen thing to do, people in Island Park agreed. Some called it “terrible” and “amoral” and “sad” and “a shame.” Mayor Mike Bogden took to Facebook, writing on the city’s official page: “This is not the way we deal with the wildlife in Island Park!”

Jerry Fyfe, 70, at the bar at Lakeside Lodge and Resort, called it “just out-and-out flat wrong.” And Reeca Marotz, the only city employee, voiced some version of a prayer: “I just hope it’s not somebody from the area,” she said. “That’s just not the values that are in place up here.”

{snip}

Doug Petersen, the conservation officer for the Upper Snake Region, was similarly optimistic. “We’re making progress and we’re hopeful,” he said. Sometimes, the wheels of justice simply turned slowly. To the person or people who shot the grizzlies around Island Park, he had a message: “We’re after you. We’re gonna catch you. Look over your shoulder because I’m right behind you.”

The Lost Local News Issue
Since 2005, about 2,200 local newspapers across America have closed. Here are some of the stories in danger of being lost — as told by local journalists.
ALABAMA A Sculptor’s Legacy
ALASKA Erosion Threatens a School
COLORADO Facebook and a Political Firestorm
GEORGIA This Group Fights Racial Injustice
IDAHO A Grizzly Mystery
INDIANA An Architect’s STEM Program
KANSAS How to Save the Prairie
MISSISSIPPI A Home Renovation Dream Realized
NEW MEXICO One Judge’s Radical Approach
OREGON Burying Unclaimed Remains
UTAH A Dust-Up Over Roads
WEST VIRGINIA One Pastor’s Distinctive Congregation
MARGARET SULLIVAN: What happens to society — and our democracy — when community and regional journalism dries up

[Bayard]

1. Sickening

Mama and cub.