(Updated 4:30 p.m. MDT, 09/06/2023)
BOZEMAN — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) confirmed on Wednesday that a grizzly bear euthanized on Saturday, Sep. 2 was the same bear that killed 48-year-old Amie Adamson of Kansas in July.
Early Saturday morning, FWP wardens received a report from a West Yellowstone homeowner that a grizzly bear with a cub broke into their house through a window while they were home and grabbed a container of dog food.
FWP staff captured the cub later that evening and shot the adult grizzly.
"The adult bear was shot with authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because of the immediate danger that was posed by the bear's food-conditioned behavior," said Morgan Jacobsen, information and education program manager for Montana FWP Region 3.
"This bear was euthanized because it entered somebody's home, which is very unsafe behavior, very unnatural behavior for bears," he added.
According to FWP, the 10-year-old female grizzly had been captured in 2017 for research purposes. Genetic analysis and other identifying factors confirmed the bear was the same one that attacked and killed Adamson on July 22.
"After the incident in July where the woman was killed, there was an extensive effort to trap that bear. We had traps set for several days following that incident in that area of West Yellowstone, but those trapping efforts were not successful," Jacobsen said.
FWP says the bear also injured a person in Idaho near Henrys Lake State Park in 2020.
The 46-pound male cub is being held at FWP’s wildlife rehabilitation center in Helena pending transfer to a zoo in the coming weeks.
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