Overview

• Park staff euthanized an adult female black bear on July 20 after it breached storage defenses at a Blacktail Deer Creek backcountry campsite.
• The bear crushed an unoccupied tent on June 7 and on July 11 climbed a properly secured food pole to consume campers’ provisions.
• Officials said the animal’s escalating property damage and loss of natural wariness posed an unacceptable threat to visitor safety.
• This is the first black bear removed for food conditioning in Yellowstone since July 2020, highlighting both rarity and severity of such cases.
• Yellowstone enforces mandatory use of food poles or bear-resistant containers at its 293 backcountry campsites to prevent wildlife from becoming food-conditioned.