Grizzly bear GB1058, a member of a rare four-cub litter, was found dead inside Grand Teton National Park after a vehicle hit it just months after his famous mother, GB399, was killed there similarly.
GB1058, a 5-year-old male, was found dead on Tuesday near U.S. Highway 26 inside the Wyoming park. GTNP rangers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel investigated the scene and found that GB1058 had been hit by a vehicle.
The male bear managed to make it another 125 yards to a patch of willows following the vehicle strike, but succumbed. GTNP said in a release that GB1058 could have been dead several days before his body was found.
GTNP officials didn’t say whether they had found the driver responsible or if the driver was injured in the incident. Spokeswoman Emily Davis told WyoFile that “law enforcement rangers were not able to determine if speed was a factor” in the bear’s death.
GB1058 emerged into the world in 2020, before weaning off GB399 in 2022. In October, GB399, the mother of 18 cubs in total, was found dead at 28 after her car accident.
GB1058 was the second of the four-cub litter to die. Fellow male GB1057 was put down by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in 2022 after he sought to find and eat human food. Altogether, 11 of GB399’s 18 cubs have died, according to Jackson Hole News & Guide.
