Grizzly Shot by Hunting Guide Tuesday

Wildlife managers are investigating the shooting of a grizzly bear by a hunting guide Tuesday morning.
Park County commissioner and outfitter Lee Livingston says a grizzly bear was shot midmorning Tuesday in the upper South Fork of the Shoshone River after charging three of his guides and their horses. According to an article in the Cody Enterprise, the guides were able to scare the bear away initially, but it returned shortly after, charging at the entire group from a different, higher direction.
Livingston told the newspaper that the guides were hauling a dead elk out of the backcountry at the time, adding that it appeared that the bear was specifically headed toward the horses carrying the elk.
Game and Fish is investigating the incident, but because of the decision made by a federal judge last week, grizzly bears are now considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Dan Smith with the Game and Fish office in Cody says that this change means that investigating conflicts will now have to go through additional channels.

As the bears become more active searching for food before the harsh winter sets in, there have been more reports of human-grizzly encounters. But authorities have officially cleared the corn maze near Clark, where several grizzlies were spotted last week, and the owners of Gallagher’s Corn Maze have taken precautions to keep bears out.