By: Chris Cheng

A fatal grizzly bear attack killed a woman late in July of 2023, outside Yellowstone National Park. The attack has triggered discussion about whether to remove the Endangered Species Act to limit the amount of grizzly bears. The victim’s body was found by a hiker on Buttermilk Trail, says the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The authorities have been unable to find the grizzly that killed the woman.

The latest data gathered by park rangers shows that the number of grizzlies around the park is 965, which is four times higher than the amount that existed in 1975. However, the bears would rather avoid humans than attack them, even despite their fearsome reputation. A record of 5 million people visited Yellowstone National Park in 2021. Despite all of this, the bears have only killed 10 people since 2010. This explains that the probability of them attacking is very low.

“When you think of that, and you combine that with a population of almost a thousand grizzly bears, it is actually remarkable that there are so few serious incidents,” said Frank van Manen, who leads the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.

The debate over the grizzly population has been going on for years. However, this year, the Grizzly Bear Study Team launched a new service for the recovery of the grizzly bears in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.