Grizzly 399 is dead

I just read the sad news 399, a female grizzly bear named after her tag number died on Tuesday October 22 at the age of 28. She was hit by a car. They are looking for her cubs. Grizzly bear 399 was arguably the most famous grizzly bear in the United States. Unlike the typical bear, Grizzly 399 regularly gave birth to triplets rather than twins.

She lived in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton national park area, near Snake River, and she was seen and admired by thousands of visitors. Her Instagram account has 55,000 followers, books were written about her and documentaries were made. She had 22 cubs throughout her life.

Grizzly 399 with three cubs. Photo from Wikipedia by StevenPDeVries, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

She is special to me because we also encountered her and three of her cubs during a visit to Grand Teton national park in 2007. It was a school trip organized by the math teacher and each kid was accompanied by at least one parent to give the math teacher a break. Grizzly 399 gave us a very memorable experience.

My photo of the Teton mountain range taken from Snake River.

Grizzly 399 frequently sought human company. She came down to the roads with her cubs and stayed with the passersby for hours. She did not beg for food. She just wanted to stay with people and this article describes her as a gentle soul.

Grizzly bears seeking human company is normally a dangerous situation and grizzly bears seeking human company are therefore often shot to protect the public. Grizzlies are dangerous animals. They can kill people both out of aggression and for food. However, the park rangers left Grizzly 399 and her cubs alone because they deemed her harmless. She frequently interacted with people without ever showing any aggression towards people.

A photo of Grizzly 399 and a couple of her cubs taken in June 2007 by fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.

Her behavior was somewhat strange, but I was told by a ranger that male grizzlies sometimes kill cubs, and this was her way of protecting the cubs. Grizzlies tend to stay away from people, except her, so she used people as a shield to protect her cubs.

A photo of two of 399’s cubs. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.

One ranger told us a story about 399 that sounded a bit scary. A hiker, hiking alone (which you should not do) stumbled upon 399 and her cubs as they were in the middle of eating an Elk carcass. He had come out of a thicket and had not seen them until he essentially bumped into them. He screamed on top of his lungs because he was shocked and started running. 399, who was equally startled, pursued him. He laid down on the ground as he had read that he should do when pursued by a grizzly. 399, sniffed him but did not touch him. Her two cubs bit his behind but not hard.

After the grizzlies had left, he stood up, walked away and went to a hospital to check out the bites on his bum, which allegedly were not bad.

399 is approaching the road. Her cubs are in the background. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.

As for us, we had a somewhat scary experience with Grizzly 399, but as it turned out, we were never in any danger. Someone that he had seen enough and decided to leave, so he drove his car, with a trailer in between 399 and her cubs. Someone rightly thought that was dumb and decided to improve the situation by angrily honking.

As a result, 399 started running towards us, the large group of tourists standing outside taking pictures. People started screaming and running, and unfortunately the math teacher who had organized the trip fell and got trampled by the panicking people.

399 is crossing the road with her cubs. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gary Weinstein.

A lot of other things happened during the panic. People ran back to their cars or to any car. A couple of my fellow trip participants found themselves blocked from entering their own car (on the side away from the bear) because a plus sized lady was stuck in their door.

By pushing her from behind they were able to get her inside and could then enter the car themselves. The kids were standing on top of the SUVs that we had rented and crawled back into the cars through the sunroofs. My son entered the car last by his own choice.

The math teacher, Frank Jordan, took this photo of 399.

As it turned out the panic was completely unnecessary. 399 was not chasing anyone and was not really running towards us. She was running to the end of the car with the trailer to get around it to get to her cubs on the other side. Below are a few more photos taken by my fellow trip participants. I did not get good photos of this event, so I am not including them.

399 and her cubs amongst the cars. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Carl Ondracek.
A view of the Teton Mountain range. The big mountain is Grand Teton. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.
Jackson Lake, an island and the Teton Mountain range in the background. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.

To see the Super Facts click here

Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

35 thoughts on “Grizzly 399 is dead”

  1. Hi Thomas, how sad that this bear was killed by a car. We have strict rules about the speed at which people may drive in our national parks to avoid this situation. I understand that self driving may be stopped soon anyway. People need to be educated to be around wild animals. Your adventure with this bear is fascinating. Grizzlies have a reputation for being aggressive.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. You are right, grizzly bears can be very dangerous animals. If it had not been 399 we would never have gotten out of our cars. But 399 was coming down to the road every day and people left their cars and got pretty close, like we did, which maybe we shouldn’t have, but nothing ever happened. But she was so used to that and it became a daily occurence. The rangers were saying that with all the time she spending by the road, one day a car will hit her. It took 28 years but it finally happened. It is very sad. It might be a good idea to only allow guided tours, like you imply, that they may do at your national parks. So many drivers are so uncareful and thoughtless.

      Like

      Reply

    2. Yes you are right. It really pains me too. I am sorry to put you through this. I think though that people need to start paying attention to how they treat animals and how they drive. There are so many drivers here in Dallas who drive fast through neighborhoods where there are kids playing in or by the streets and dog walkers along the street, not to mention wild animals and run away dogs. They think cars are the only thing that matters.

      Like

      Reply

    3. Yes I can understand how you feel. It is easy to assume that people will see what you yourself can see and perhaps even think like yourself, but they don’t. Very selfish people think everyone is selfish, and caring people think everyone cares at least a little bit, but that’s not how it works. Unintelligent people think they are smart and they are incapable of noticing when someone is really smart. We can’t connect. It is a sad fact.

      Like

      Reply

    6. Well, I think I was. I was never working less than 9-10 hrs a day. But, I took early retirement from Siemens and since then I’ve been focusing on hobbies, volunteering for citizens climate lobby, focusing on lobbying Senator Ted Cruz office, brewing beer, learning French, swimming, traveling, writing a dog book, blogging, watching movies, reading books, miscellenous stuff that is mostly for my own enjoyment. That does not feel like working hard.

      Like

      Reply

  3. Sad news indeed, Thomas! Mostly because 399 lost her life hit by a car. I hope her babies are well and can thrive. Thanks for sharing; animal-related topics always touch my heart, one way or another. *Light and blessings to you*

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes you are right. Bears hanging around humans tend to get shot to protect the humans and even if not staying on the roads increases the risk of getting hit by a car. It finally happened but 28 years is an advanced aged for a bear.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Denise. It certainly was an amazing experience. Yes you are right. She was definitely different. Thousands upon thousands of tourists, some of them getting very close to both her and the cubs and nothing ever happened.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Aww, that’s sad. Right now we have an old coyote who has been coming around all summer to eat fruit from our fig, persimmon, and other trees, but they’re just about out of fruit now. I’m sure he will find somewhere else to forage, but I wish there were something we could do to help him. Putting food out is out of the question of course, since it would attract other animals and cause all kinds, not to mention it’s illegal here. (The old guy has some mange and appears to have gotten injured earlier in the fall, maybe in a scuffle; we called the humane society and wildlife services and they said they won’t intervene as long as the coyote is mobile. He seems to be mostly recovered from his injuries now, so that’s good, though I doubt he’ll make it to the spring just because of his obvious age.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That is a heart breaking story. Nature is often cruel and I feel sorry for all the animals who get old and die a cruel death. It is difficult to know what the right thing to do is and how you can help them. Hopefully we are not making it worse. It is great that you are asking the humane society.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment