Rangers, biologists, photographers mourn the death of grizzly 399
By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS CONTRIBUTOR
On the night of Tuesday, Oct. 22, grizzly 399, known as the matriarch of the northern Rockies, Queen of the Tetons, was fatally struck by a vehicle along Highway 26/89 in the Snake River Canyon.
“I was devastated as many people are, and upset,” filmmaker and photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen told EBS in a phone call. “She was weeks away from going into hibernation.”
399’s yearling cub is unharmed and although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish haven’t yet located him, they believe he has a strong chance of survival due to age, size and the time of the year.
The tragic news shocked many wildlife lovers, including photographers, filmmakers, park rangers, biologists and tourists. No one was possibly as devastated as Mangelsen, who first discovered 399 and her three cubs eighteen years ago. In the years since, Mangelsen estimates he has photographed and filmed her anywhere from 100 to 150 days a year.
“She had taken up, in a good way, a lot of my life. It’s been a joy to have her in my life,” Mangelsen said. “Now there’s a big hole in my heart. Now, I have less reason to go into the park.”
Throughout her lifetime, the 28-year-old sow mothered 18 cubs, eight of which reached adulthood. She navigated a vast but bustling landscape with many human inhabitants, living around and near roads in Grand Teton National Park. This keen understanding of her surroundings kept her cubs safe from not only nearby traffic but also large male grizzlies.
Frank T. van Manen, supervisory research wildlife biologist for the USGS Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, noted 399’s “intelligence, patience and grace.”
“All attributes that likely allowed her to successfully navigate a landscape with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—where the human footprint is relatively high—and not get into major conflicts, which is quite remarkable,” van Manen said. “Her offspring were not always successful in this regard, with several involved in human-bear conflicts.”
She was one of the most famous bruins in the world, drawing fans from across the globe to Teton National Park.
“People from around the world have followed grizzly 399 for several decades,” Hilary Cooley, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, stated in a press release following 399’s death.
“She had taken up, in a good way, a lot of my life. It’s been a joy to have her in my life. Now there’s a big hole in my heart.”
– Thomas D. Mangelsen
Mary Cochenour, senior attorney in Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office, hopes that legacy will carry on beyond 399’s tragic end.
“The Queen of the Grand Tetons, also known as grizzly 399, offered people a glimpse into the life of a mother bear who played with her cubs, cared for them, worried over them, just as any mother would her children,” Cochenour wrote in an email to EBS. “She was fierce and loving and her loss is profound. For those of us who call this part of the world our home, we are fortunate to live among these intelligent, complex creatures.”
Wildlife-vehicle collisions are an unfortunate reality in the GYE. Between 2009 and 2023, vehicles have collided with, and killed, 49 grizzlies in the region, about 3.3 grizzlies per year, according to the National Park Service. Two have been killed thus far this year, including 399.
Mangelsen said he pities the driver who hit her, and hopes the public won’t play the blame game. Bears often travel at night, which is always poses a risk to both drivers and animals.
“Grizzly 399 showed us what bears are. They’re not big and scary and human killers. They’re sentient, intelligent, beautiful beings that lead emotional lives,” Mangelsen said. “I saw her and her cubs playing and jumping and wrestling, and the cubs playing with each other, while at other times, they were nurturing and feeding.
“She was an amazing being. They’re no different than us in those behaviors. We don’t understand their language, but they do have emotional lives.”
