2024 will go down as a record year for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and not for a good reason.
As of the last week of October, grizzly bear deaths hit a record number. According to a U.S. Geological Survey biologist, one of the main reasons for the mortality rate being at a record-level is due to the increasing number of cattle and livestock depredations committed by the bears, according to the Powell Tribune.
As of November, 4th, the number of grizzlies killed in the area are 70, the most recorded deaths in a single year and surpassing the previous record in 2018, according to Frank van Manen, a supervisory research wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey and team leader of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, which addresses monitoring and research needs for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population.
The majority of deaths of the species are the result of management decisions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This year, all categories of mortality causes are “essentially at the average of the previous 10 years,” van Manen said, with the exception of removals associated with cattle depredations. But with more than a month left before most grizzly bears are hibernating, the number of mortalities is likely to rise considering bears are currently in hyperphagia while storing up fat for their long nap.
“There is sometimes a cyclic pattern with livestock depredations; removing depredating bears tends to be an effective strategy and typically reduces such conflicts in several subsequent years, after which new bears may move into the same area and the cycle starts anew,” he said in a Monday interview with the Tribune. “This year may be the peak of such a cycle, and with possible added effects of drought conditions, depredations become a major challenge for managers,” Manen tells the Powell Tribune.
There have been 43 deaths inside the Demographic Monitoring Area (DMA) in 2024. The DMA is a 20,000 square miles area that has been determined to be suitable habitat for the species. The previous record for the total number of mortalities was in 2018, when 47 deaths occurred inside the DMA and about 22 outside the DMA. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team doesn’t have a mandate or the funds to count grizzlies outside the DMA, van Manen said in a previous interview with the Tribune.
More than 50 of the 70 deaths in 2024 occurred in Wyoming, and 27 deaths were outside the DMA. Grizzly bears are increasing in population outside the DMA, van Manen said, with some reaching as far as Byron and the Ten Sleep area to the east and Red Lodge in Montana, according to previous reports.
