Residents of idyllic mountain villages have been left looking over their shoulders after the brown bear population soared.
Since being listed as Endangered Species in 1975, when there were only 700 of them patrolling the lower 48 states, grizzly bears have made a comeback.
Places like towns, farms and ranches in the northern Rocky Mountains where they haven’t been seen in more than a century are reporting sightings.
Biologists say they believe the population has now grown to at least 2,000, and bears now regularly roam outside Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
Cecil and Bridget Gallagher, who live in Clark, Wyoming, just outside Cody, grow sweet corn on their farm, which they say now gives them an adrenaline rush.
Since being listed as Endangered Species in 1975, when there were only 700 of them patrolling the lower 48 states, grizzly bears have made a comeback.
Sightings have been reported in places like towns, farms and ranches in the Northern Rockies, where they had not been seen in over a century. Seen here is Yellowstone National Park
The animals began appearing near their ranch about a decade ago, prompting an electrifying look on their faces.
The bears have since found their way into corn fields; state game managers trapped four of them last year.
As harvest approaches, the Gallaghers say they fear for themselves and their children as they walk through the fields trying to generate enough noise to scare away the bears.
Bridget told the outlet: “I’m praying a lot. We start harvesting sweet corn next week. We saw the first bear tracks in the field a couple of days ago. Luck’s work begins again.”
While Elliott Lee woke up one morning to frantic squawking coming from his backyard chicken coop, he ran outside to discover a grizzly bear.
Lee, 78, told the outlet: “The fence had been torn down and I looked up and there was a grizzly bear about 25 to 30 feet away.”
“He had killed four chickens and was eating them.”
Dana Darlington, who runs a ranch on the Montana prairie where grizzly bears have not been seen in at least 100 years, said she found the remains of a 120-pound calf in April.
Cecil and Bridget Gallagher, seen here with their family, harvest sweetcorn on their farm, which they say now gives them an adrenaline rush.
Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, with the town of Cody, Wyoming, seen here, are pushing to have the grizzly bear removed from the protected species list in order to control numbers through hunting.
State biologists later confirmed to Darlington that the calf had been attacked by a bear.
The 60-year-old told the outlet: “I never thought I’d see a bear kill here in my lifetime. I’m just baffled by what’s happening here.”
Carnivore biologist Luke Ellsbury said his “oh-so-shit” moment happened last year when a grizzly bear showed up in the Bighorn Mountains.
Ellsbury told the outlet the animal must have crossed the Bighorn Basin, a sprawling plateau about 100 miles wide.
He told the outlet: “We thought it would take a few more years,” adding that his Fish and Game department had to euthanize him after he killed livestock.
Last year, in a bizarre moment, Ellsbury also scared off a grizzly bear along the Shoshone River near a busy nature trail by firing blanks.
His office supplies locals with bear spray and even lets people practice with a Robobear, a remote-controlled, charging grizzly bear.
Ranch manager Mark McCarty said he loses 50 to 75 calves each year to bears and other predators.
He told the outlet that the state compensates the ranch but not all costs, adding that stressed cows reproduce less.
In Yellowstone, there is only one grizzly bear attack per year on average due to bear-proof trash bins, widespread use of bear spray and other safety measures.
Despite the return and concern among local residents, human deaths remain rare.
McCarty said: “I don’t want the bears to go away, but there are so many of them now that they tend to get into trouble. It’s like a glass of water overflowing.”
In May of this year, Shayne Patrick Burke, 35, suffered serious injuries as a result of an attack in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
He revealed in an Instagram post how he was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” when a mother grizzly bear attacked him.
The adult animal had been protecting its cub, he said, resulting in a brutal attack that the combat veteran said was the “most violent” thing he had ever experienced.
He attributed his life to a can of bear spray, administered as the beast bit his hands, legs and neck, nearly killing him in the process.
Now Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are pushing to remove the grizzly bear from the list of protected species in order to control the number of animals hunted there.
Burke revealed in an Instagram post how he was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” when a mother grizzly bear attacked him.
Samantha Justice, 25, told the outlet she wants the bears to be open to hunting, saying, “They must be scared of us.”
Justice had been booking rafting trips on a river where bears have attacked two boats and always carries a rifle when he is in the woods.
As grizzly advocates fight to maintain protections, they say the population is nothing compared to the 50,000 that roamed the western United States 200 years ago.
David Mattson, a retired federal wildlife investigator, added: “We’re talking about an icon of our Western heritage and the last of the last.”
Mattson believes bears and humans can coexist as long as safety precautions are taken.
Despite the return and concern of local residents, deaths remain rare.
Since 1992, 165 human injuries, including 10 deaths, have been recorded.
In Yellowstone, there is only one grizzly bear attack per year on average due to bear-proof trash bins, widespread use of bear spray and other safety measures.
But around the park, the number of conflicts with animals has increased from 50 a year in the 1990s to more than 400 in recent years.
The animals are known to steal from buildings, take down livestock, domestic dogs and mess with people, according to Frank van Manen, supervisory wildlife research biologist for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.
The team also found that the bears’ range has increased by up to 27,000 square miles since 1990.
Van Manen told the outlet that the biggest increase in conflicts is in areas claimed by bears that are filled with humans.
Grizzly bear advocates are fighting to keep their protections, saying the population is nothing compared to the 50,000 that roamed the western United States 200 years ago.
He added that grizzly bears have learned that it is easier to hunt livestock or steal garbage than to hunt for food, saying: “They are incredibly intelligent and resourceful animals.”
Due to the resurgence, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to remove grizzly bears from the Endangered Species List in 2017.
But in 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lawsuit by environmental and tribal groups that the bears should remain protected.
Montana and Wyoming have filed a petition to have the grizzly bear delisted again.
The outlet reported that Wyoming spends about $2 million a year on bear conflicts, including $500,000 for losses such as livestock.
Fish and Wildlife officials say they are investigating the status of all of the lower states, not just Yellowstone, and a decision will be made next year.