399’s lonesome cub
(Updated 6/27 with photos from the actual river trip, shot by passenger Paul Schnell)
I was back on the river yesterday, after a week’s layoff due to foul weather. The flow in Grand Teton National Park is surging, with the sudden arrival of sunshine finally triggering a melt-off in the high country.
Earlier I wrote about the experience of exploring the river in the park, and that’s the way spring has been: abundant wildlife, elk sightings nearly every trip, the uncertainty around each bend of not knowing just what you’ll encounter.
Last night, on the last of my three trips, I rowed into a small side channel. It’s quiet, and a good place to see wildlife up close, when animals happen to be there.
Within minutes I had spotted what looked like a large dirt clump on the side of the river. It was too large to be a beaver, but it wasn’t moving. We floated closer. A tourist asked me a question, and the brown shape slowly roused, turned around and looked at us with sad eyes.
“It’s a grizzly bear,” I said, and the tourists screamed.
If you want to see the visage of pure jubilation, put a tourist in front of a bear. This was the second sighting of the cub on my boat this season; the first time, the mostly foreign passengers nearly jumped into the river they were so excited.
Anyhow, the bear just looked at us last night, a little puzzled and groggy perhaps. It had been sleeping on a log. We floated slowly past it, and it never ran but just gazed at us from 20 yards away.
I radioed the guides behind me, and two other boats also took the channel and watched the grizzly. Best we can figure, it’s one of No. 399’s cubs, recently turned loose by its mother and tasked with having to fend for itself.
The bear looked really small, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. Anyone who’s ever seen a bruin at close range and watched its behavior recognizes that bears are not very far down the evolutionary ladder from us humans.
Maybe it’s naivete and anthropomorphism on my part. Maybe the bear is blissfully happy on the banks of that little brook. After all, I did spot an elk calf barely able to walk, much less run, in the same area a few weeks ago. Maybe the little griz is well fed and just laid down on the edge of the water for a nap.
One of the best things about a river trip for me, particularly a kayak run, is getting off the water and having the motion of the river stay with me. I laid down to sleep last night still bobbing in the waves, looking into the eyes of the grizzly.
Below, these photos were taken earlier this spring of what we believe to be the same grizzly family, before the bears split up. Click to enlarge and use arrow keys to navigate slide show. Photos © Sue Cedarholm
June 19th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I’m usually looking into the eyes of an extremely hot chick from some exotic locale when I lay down to sleep!
June 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
My family was blessed with being able to observe 399’s family two years ago at fairly close range in GTNP, and it was a thrilling, humbling and inspiring experience, not least of all because the bears were acting as a family, and doing what bears are supposed to do despite their extreme closeness to human activity.
In this day and age where even rare animals such as grizzly bears are being taken off of the endangered species rosters, let’s hope 399 and all of her remarkable family have continuing solo careers as wonderful and durable as their time together as a family. May lonesome find a mate and bring us more grizzly children when the time is right. We hope to see one or more members of this legendary family again this summer come late July.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Bad news: I got a report from a reliable source last week that a grizzly cub was trapped in the Solitude neighborhood along the river. May have been this very same griz. The bear was sleeping in someone’s backyard, after following elk and elk calves into the subdivision.
Solitude is built in the flood plain of the river, and old river channels line the [mostly empty trophy] houses.
So, a bear walks down the river, still in the river bed, following his prey, and goes to sleep among the cottonwoods. He is shot with a dart and wakes up in a completely strange place, where his chances of survival are slim.
The news prompted a friend to ask, Can we trap and relocate the Solitude homeowners instead?
July 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Here’s an excerpt from a Game and Fish press release. I’m told this bear was not involved in Solitude but may be one of 399’s cubs.
JACKSON- Wildlife officials with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Grand Teton National Park worked cooperatively to trap and relocate a subadult male grizzly bear that had been frequenting developed areas near Moran over the weekend. The young bear appeared unafraid of people and repeatedly returned to developed areas despite attempts to haze it.
While the bear was not known to have received any human food rewards, managers believed the situation was escalating and that a preemptive capture was warranted to keep this bear from acquiring human food and/or causing property damage. The young bear was trapped early Saturday, June 28th and relocated the same day to a location along the Grassy Lake Road approximately 10 miles west of Flagg Ranch in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. The release site is located within currently occupied grizzly bear habitat and the Grizzly Bear Primary Conservation Area.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
People saw the other two cubs today unsuccessfully chasing elk. I know a photo of one of the cubs chasing the elk was sent in to the Casper Star Tribune tonight. It’s an awesome photo!