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.”