National Park After Dark - The Queen of the Tetons: Remembering Grizzly 399

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

On October 22, 2024 a legacy ended when Grizzly 399 was hit by a car and killed. She was the most beloved bear in the world and the oldest known grizzly to produce cubs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She gained popularity when she strategically raised her cubs by the roadways and tolerated human interaction. In this episode we share her story, the legacy and impact she left on the conservation world, and the problems that her habituation has had and will continue to cause. Hang out until the end of the episode where we have special trail tales from listeners who had the opportunity to see her in the wild.For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodesFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Soul:  For 30% off your order, head to GetSoul.com and use code NPAD.IQBAR: Text PARK to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products and free shipping.Prose: Use our link for a free in-depth hair consultation and 50% off your first subscription order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monday AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. They live inside Monday.com. So they see the full picture, my work, my team, the whole company. And I don't have to worry about the data. It's safe, which means I'm free to focus on the big stuff,

knowing everything runs smoothly in the background. It's completely shifted the way we work. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress.

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. The evening of October 22nd, 2024 marked the end of an era inside of the Grand Teton's of Wyoming. A Subaru driver along Highway 89 that winds through the Snake River Canyon of Bridger-Titon National Forest

tried to swerve when a massive brown appeared in front of their vehicle. But it was too late. Their car collided with a 400-pound grizzly bear, leaving the Subaru totaled and the bear dead. This wasn't just any brown bear, though. This was Grizzly 390. a known icon of the area. She was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Her life inspired thousands of people to visit each year in hopes of getting a glimpse of her.

Photographers, biologists, tourists, and people from around the world became enthralled with her story. She was a local celebrity. But with many celebrity figures, their life isn't all the glamour and greatness it seems to be from the outside. Her story is much more complicated and intricate than just, being the most beloved bear in the world. Today, we tell her story, the legacy and impact she had on the nation, and the problems that her habituation has created. Welcome to National Park after dark. Wow, you really jumped on this. You weren't kidding. Yeah, this is a pretty recent news. And as soon as as I saw the news that Bear 399 had died, I bought a book for her.

her and I knew that this was something that we were going to have to cover. Yeah. And I'm glad you're doing it because I know of her just through news headlines and just like brief things that I've read over time. And clearly her story is all over the place now, especially, you know, in the immediate wake, this is being recorded at the end of October. So it's really all over the place right now. So I'm glad you're covering it and I can't wait to learn about her. Yeah. I think that this is probably one of the most recent stories we've ever covered, just because this is very much ongoing. Like you said, this is fully in the news right now. There's a lot of unknowns that are happening. I mean, people are still grieving her. She's very loved all over the world, and especially in Jackson Hole.

She's really big there. So there's been a lot of celebrations of life of her going on there. And it's really big news. But also with that, I think that Grizzly 399, even though she was a celebrity, there's a lot of things about her story that aren't really publicized as much. And she's so much of a let's go see her. She's this beautiful bear that has been known to coexist with people in such a peaceful manner and way. And you can see her up close. And she's this icon to see in the park. And so many people do go to see her because of that.

And there's something really beautiful about that. And then there's also something that is also not so great about that that I do want to talk about. So basically for this story today is I really want to talk about what a interesting bear she was and how she has brought so many people together. But I also want to talk about the bad side of that and why she has brought so many people together is because she's habituated and she had these behaviors that were dangerous. So there's kind of a double-sided coin to this. And she's also very interesting because she also started a big conservation movement for bears. So this is like multifaceted, very interesting story of an animal that I'm excited to go into. Yeah, I feel like her story would not be complete without that duality. And I'm excited to hear you present it to all of us.

Thank you. And before we do go into this story of Barith 399, because she is so beloved and I know a lot of people who are listening are probably actually really mourning her because she was so special to a lot of people. And a lot of people have a lot of memories with her or adventures that were inspired by her. So I know that this is a tough subject. And a lot of people are up in arms about how she died, that she was hit by a car. It is not the way that any of us wanted to see her life end. She was almost 29 years old. And she was getting to the end of her life anyway. It was only a matter of time before she died.

But of course, the fact that she died getting hit by a car is very unexpected, not unexpected, did because she did go by, she was known to raise her cubs by the highways and by the roadway systems. But it was not the ending we all wanted. But I do want to put an emphasis on this for this episode is that I'm not here to shame the person who hit and killed her. And I don't think other people should. I've seen online a lot of people saying that this was the driver's fault. And I did in my research, I did find an article that came out where law enforcement have publicly said that, it was not anything that the driver was doing. And I think that that's important because I imagine as the person who hit this bear, one, it's traumatizing to hit an animal. But also when you find out it's the most beloved bear in the world that you just hit and killed that. I imagine that this person is having a

really rough time as well. And online hate is not the way to go. So publicly, they have said that the driver wasn't speeding. They weren't texting. They weren't drinking. It wasn't anything like that. This was actually just a horrible accident. And in Wyoming, wildlife vehicle collisions account for 7,656 crashes per year. And conservationists have actually been advocating for installation of overpass wildlife crossings. So this is this larger issue that is much bigger than just this one accident. So I just want to put it out there. If you are seeing this online, please don't like write hate to the person who actually, it could have been any of us who hit the spare. And it's interesting that you bring that up right at the top, which I think is important because we never, whether it's the story or any other, we never want to encourage anyone to add to any hate or, you know, harassment or bullying ever. But I had two thoughts when I first heard about her death. The first was, wow, that's so sad. And the second was, I feel awful for the person who hit her because they're about to be one of the most hate.

hated people in conservation right now, in the conservation world. I would, you know, in America is a huge inflation and overstatement. I mean, a lot of people in America don't know who Bear 399 is, which is weird because in our worlds, everyone knows. It's big in our world, but other people really don't know who she is, yeah. But everyone who does know who she is, like that person is, I just immediately, my heart, without knowing anything else about the circumstances, this was like breaking news at this point. Very little information was out. And immediately I was like, God, that's so sad. My heart hurts for the bear. And then I was like, oh, no, that person is about to be crucified. And I just, yeah, so it's really important that you noted that. So. Yeah. And as of today, we're recording this on Halloween,

October 31st. Their name has not been released to the public. And that has been intentional because of the online hate and speculation that this was something that the driver did. So as far as I know that this person is safe away from online ridicule to them directly, but of course, I'm sure they've seen it. So today, moving past that, going into today's story, I do want to talk about Bear 399's full story. I want to talk about her legacy, the conservation movements that were inspired by her, the negative parts of her story, and really recognizing that she was a very habituated bear and the problems that there were with that. And because I know how special she was to a lot of people, I also thought it would be really fun for this episode to make it more of an interactive episode with our audience.

So on our socials, I did post that I was looking for anyone who had stories, personal stories of 399 to come forward and write to us. So if you did that, thank you. We have three trail tales all surrounding 399 that will be put at the end of this episode. Fun. Yeah. The first and foremost, let's get introduced to Grizzly 399. And she was in Grand Teton National Park area and the surrounding area is the Bridger Teton National Forest, which if you're unaware, this is all encompassing in Wyoming area south of Yellowstone National Park. So Grizzly 399 was a 29-year-old sow born in Pilgrim Creek area of Wyoming and was known to roam both Grand Teton National Park and Bridger Teton National Forest, which I just stated.

but I wrote twice. We just really want you to know. We really want you to know where she is because I will say I normally, normally for these episodes, I go heavily into the National Park itself, but I didn't for this episode. I do talk about the area we're in a lot, but not specifically the National Park as much. Okay. And I'll say I was also a little nervous. I've been waiting to go to Grand Teton National Park for a story because the last one we did

was when I did the Jenny Lake Rangers one, like years ago. go almost four years ago now since we visit this park, but I was waiting for a story that could compare, I guess, because that one was such a loved episode that we did that I was nervous to come back here and not do it justice to be back in this park. But I thought that she deserved an episode. And with that, I barely talk about the park, but it is all within the park. It's a great park. It's a great park. It's one of my favorites. You should go. It's in Wyoming. It has mountains. and rivers and look up the stats if you're all the things listen to the other episode we did and I go way into the park if you're really that curious of it but grizzly 399 eventually became the

oldest known sow in the greater yellowstone ecosystem to give birth to cubs and her method of parenting and living in close proximity to major roadways amongst people along with her amount of cubs that actually survived with her made her an icon within the park. She was born in 1996, but it wasn't until much later that the world deemed her a celebrity. A small backstory on how she got her name was that in 2001, she was captured by the interagency grizzly bear study team and was fitted with a radio collar. Now, this is a team of scientists and biologists in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem that are responsible for the long-term monitoring and research of grizzly bears in that area.

She was the 300th and 99th bear to be fitted with a collar and tracked for the research, and thus she got the name Grizzly 399. So that is her scientific name. However, she has other names, and you also may have heard her referred to as Queen of the Teton's or the matriarch of the Teton's and that because she is the known mama bear. She first garnered attention from the public in 2006 when she gave birth to Triblets in the Grand Teton National Park area. At the time, grizzlies were a rare site in the teetons. And while Yellowstone had a population and seeing grizzlies there wasn't unheard of and uncommon, seeing grizzlies in the teetons and in the Jackson Hole Bridger-Teton area was pretty rare. So when she emerged, biologists and visitors alike were excited to see her, but they weren't just excited because there was a grizzly bear there. They were excited because she had three cups. This was a very promising sign that grizzly bears were expanding their range.

in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. And along with that, Grizzlies having triplets is pretty rare. While they can give birth to one to four litters, one to four litters, one to four cubs in a litter, generally speaking, they usually have two. So to C3 in an area where there wasn't a lot of grizzly activity was very exciting in 2006. It was in 2007 in which observations in her parenting style became headline news across the country. At this point, she was 11 years old, but her behavior was very out of the norm of other grizzlies. Cubs will stay with their mothers for up to two to three years.

And this is a critical learning period for them because their mothers teach them how to survive. They teach them how to forage, fish, and hunt. Along with that, they teach them safe areas to roam, survival skills, and protective behaviors. Essentially, what the mother teaches them shapes how they will behave and how they will become adults. During this period of time, it is also the mother's job to protect. and fend off predators from their vulnerable offspring. The most common cause of death of offspring during this time is actually caused by male grizzly bears.

And we've spoken about infanticide on other episodes. And this behavior refers to when a male will kill a female offspring that they are trying to mate with. And they do this so that the mother will no longer lactate and their bodies will go back into estrus. And they can meet and have their own offspring with them. So onlookers notice that Grizzly 399 was bringing her three cubs in 2007 close to roadways to search for food.

And this was very odd behavior, especially in the Grand Teton National Park area, because if you've been to the park, you know that the roadways are pretty busy. And it's in very close proximity to people. And generally, grizzly bears will avoid or be elusive to people. They don't want interactions. And to see this mama bear specifically raising her cubs next to a roadway was very interesting and very unusual. So instead of being elusive, she actually didn't seem to mind being around people at all. In fact, what a lot of people refer to as bear jams within the park is when cars will line up, you know, like one car sees a bear stops, then the other one stops because they're looking at someone and then it like just piles up to a ton of cars. She would experience bear jams a lot and she would be

surrounded by masses of people who would be taking photos of her and her cubs. And she seemed to largely unbothered by it. She would look. She would be weary that they were there, acknowledged that they were there, but she didn't really seem to react. She didn't run. She didn't. She didn't seem all that phased or stopped doing what she was doing, which was very odd. And biologists theorized that Grizzly 399 was going to these populated areas intentionally. And she was doing this because male grizzly bears are known to be even more elusive and would be less likely to enter the areas that she was with. her cubs. So they believed what she was doing was actually a survival tactic to keep her cubs alive. This would later be proven a very successful one because overall, Grizzly 399 had 18 cubs and all but two survive to become sub-adults. Which is an astounding statistic. It is. So when you put that into numbers and to statistics, the mortality rate amongst grizzly cubs is really high with less than half of them will survive a year or more. And most of that is either due to to male grizzly bears or some type of human conflict, like getting hit by a car.

Once they do become adults, their chance of survival increases dramatically. But the first year, the risk of death is really high. So the fact that almost all of her cubs were surviving was just, that was what intrigued biologists and scientists the most was, wow, the survival tactic that she's doing is working, but at what cost. And at face value, the success of Grizzly 399 producing and keeping her cubs alive was really impressive to rebuilding the bear populations in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Because in 1975, grizzly bears in the lower 48 were placed on the endangered species list. And that was because way back before that, I think there was there was less than 150 in the whole park versus like where we have over a thousand now.

the species is recovering and doing a lot better. But we're still on that up swing and to have this one grizzly bear that's producing all these cubs who are going to reproduce, more cubs is an exciting thought. However, as I stated at the beginning of this episode, Grizzly 399 had become habituated. She was feeding and raising her cubs near major roadway systems and she was frequently interacting with people. And while like I said, this proved to be a fantastic survival strategy, she was teaching her cubs behaviors that would later result in human wildlife conflict. And a huge reason that she was so loved was because she did allow humans to observe her and even come relatively close to her in her cubs and watch them.

So onlookers would watch as she played with her cubs, lead them through the park, as she corrected their behaviors, groomed them, protected them, and did all of these motherly duties. And watching her motherly instincts in real time is part of why she, she was labeled the matriarch of the titans. But it is also why people fell in love with her. Experts say that you shouldn't anthropomorphize animals or put human emotions on their behavior. But it was really hard for visitors to do that because they're watching and seeing this mama bear protecting and loving her kids. And not only were visitors identifying with her, it made them begin to love her and also become enthralled with her.

People generally associate grizzly bears with being dangerous and scary, which, to be clear, they are. Rightfully so. Rightfully so. But this was maybe the first glimpse into a grizzly bear's life that wasn't that. The normal everyday people were able to observe behaviors that usually only people who were out in the field could do. And this was kind of a phenomenon that was happening in Grand Teton National Park. All these people who were wanting to get a chance to get a glimpse of. a grizzly bear was not only getting a glimpse, but seeing real-time behaviors and not having to go on

the trails to do it. They're just driving through the park. They have this incredible opportunity to see a bear in the wild, not fenced in, not at a park, like not in a zoo, I mean. And it really garnered so much attention and people became so excited for this opportunity. Photographers, biologists, tourists, and people from around the globe began heading to the Teton's in hopes of seeing her. and to observe her and to photograph her. A lot of photographers saw this as a huge opportunity to get these amazing wildlife photos. She gained narrity on social media. She has over 55,000 followers on Instagram and people from around the world started coming out to see her over the years.

She became an icon in the park and even inspired conservation movements, which I'm going to get into a little bit later. And she was largely portrayed in the media as being well adapted to human presence, and avoiding conflict. So you might be surprised to learn that that's not entirely true, which I did not realize until I started researching this episode because I feel like the media has portrayed her as this incredible example of how bears can adapt to humans and live amongst them. And she's doing this fantastic job. And almost like we don't have to be afraid or weary of bears.

you know what I mean? But that's not true. And that's not true for her in particular either because, in fact, in 2007, she attacked a man inside of Grand Teton National Park and put him in the hospital. Okay. So I wanted to go into his story a little bit. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. In June of 2007, Dennis Van Denbos, a school teacher, was attending a conference at Jackson Lake Lodge. And when he arrived, he was warned that there had been grizzly bear activity

in the area, and some trails were closed and planned. to be for a few days. One morning, while he was there, he was walking one of the dirt roads around the lodge and by the guest cabins. He was in an area that is known as Willow Flats inside of the National Park, and it has these incredible views of the Teton's and is a common spot to stop for photos, but it also has a dense thicket of willow trees. Here, elk are protected, and elk rear their calves in the protection of the Willow Shaded Meadow that is here. It's a perfect place for that, which also means it's a perfect place for bears to come. So while he was walking, he saw a cow and a calf moose trot by him and then halt right next to him before moving on, but they both seemed really skittish and to be

weary of something that was nearby, but not of him. So they like walk by, they're looking really weird. They're near him, but don't care, but they care about something else. And he's thinking, this is really odd. But he keeps on with his walk. And shortly after he saw elk cows and calves in distance and he became pretty nervous. Now he's like, okay, this is breeding grounds for a bear's bear activity. He decided to turn around and head back towards the lodge, heating the warning that there were bears in the area. And when he turned back, he encountered a cow elk alone and near the dirt road that he was on. He was close to him, which he thought was odd. And looking around, he didn't see anything. And he noted that the behavior of this elk was very unusual.

usually, it wasn't paying attention to him, which he thought was odd since he was so close. Unknowingly, in a concealed brush just six feet away from him, Grizzly 399 had killed her calf, and now her and her cubs were feeding on its carcass. Oh my God. So we have resource guarding and cub protection and maybe a surprise element, which is really just triple bad. The recipe for disaster. Yes.

Exactly. And Dennis can, Dennis is. pretty nervous now. He's like, okay, something's going on. He doesn't know this is happening, but he knows there must be something going on because the animals are acting weird. So he tries to walk past the cow elk, but within seconds, he hears this harsh, guttural growl. And a moment later, a grizzly bear was charging him. He had no bear spray. He had no weapons on him. So in an attempt to stop the charge, and this grizzly bear is Grizzly 399, he made himself bigger and he began waving his arms and shouting at her while he tried to back away.

Grizzly 399 stopped right next to him and stared at him. And he had heard that he should never look a grizzly bear in the eye, but in that moment he couldn't help it. He just locked eyes with her as he tried to back away. And while he's backing away, he lost his footing when his shoe hit a rock and he fell onto the ground. In a quick attempt to stand up because he didn't want to be on the ground next to this grizzly bear, he turns to stand up and he finds himself before he's fully up face to face with grizzly 399. So in that moment, he realizes he cannot stand up and he dives onto the ground

instinctually putting his arms over his head to block his head. He played dead as she bit down into his back and then tore into his butt. He screwed. He scrubs. dreamed at first, but then quickly stopped in attempts to continue to play dead and in hopes that she would back off. After a moment, she stopped and it was silent, but she rested a paw on top of him. He slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on, but made sure not to move. And when he opened them, he saw her still staring right at him, but now her three cubs were peeking up from behind her also looking at him. This is terrifying. Okay, so he's face down on the ground protecting his head. Yeah. And she's just kind of like, like paw on top. And his, it sounds like his head was turned to the side a little bit. So he was able to open his eyes and see her. Okay. I got her. Okay. That was kind of what I wanted some clarification on. Yeah. Okay. So he sees all of them just staring at him. And he's at this point. He's like, okay, this attack's going to continue. And he's convinced that that that's going to happen. And. And he's convinced that that's going to happen. And then he suddenly hears a human voice screaming.

That is not him. A car was happening to drive by and had stopped to take photos of the bears when she saw that there was a grizzly bear in her cubs in the road on something. And she stopped to take photos. And then when she saw that they were on top of a person, she started screaming. What a scene to come upon. Yeah. That is so scary. And luckily she did scream and it spooked. Grizzly 399 and her cubs and they took off and saved him from whatever else was about to happen, which was maybe a further attack. Who knows? But definitely, potentially. And quickly, Rangers were called and an ambulance was brought in and Dennis was rushed to a nearby hospital. When Rangers called him later, he was doing okay and they expected him to make a full recovery. He had to have some stitches. and I think he had to have some surgery, but he was okay.

They asked him his opinion on what he thought should be done with Grizzly 399, and he actually advocated for the bear safety. He said, you know, I knew there was bear activity. I was walking out there. I got in her bubble, essentially. She was feeding at the time I walked by. It is not her fault at all. This was all me.

This was my fault. And the Rangers agreed. They agreed that this was a defensive attack, that they were. were resource guarding, that it was also a surprise that happened, and that this was all normal behavior for a bear, and they weren't going to punish that behavior. So the decision was made that Grizzly 399 would not be removed from the population, would not be euthanized, and that she was allowed to continue to live in the park. But a story that I never knew. I had never heard of that one either. It did make headlines back in 2007, and I found old newspaper articles about it. But

that's a long time ago now. I think people forgive and forget and just like they love her so much and they wanted to continue to be able to see her too. And at this point at the Grizzly attack was the beginning of when people were starting to pay attention to her. She didn't have the fame and notoriety that she has now. So the years go by and Grizzly 399 continued to raise Cubs along the roadside inspiring spectators from around the world. to see her. And at this point, over the next few years, she does become one of the most famous bears in the world. Some people even dedicated huge amounts of their lives to seeing her. Most famously would be the professional photographer and conservationist Tom Mangelson. In the early 1970s, he began selling images of birds in flight. And as popularity and his images grew, he opened his first photography gallery in Jackson, Wyoming. Now, today, he has over 13 galleries across the country and is credited for the most famous wildlife photograph in the world. Can you guess which one that is?

Can you give me a guess of like where it is set? You don't have to tell me the animal, but... You'll know as soon as I tell you where it is. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, you'll know the animal, I guess. It's in Cap. Will I?

It's in what? It's in Catmine National Park. Oh, is it the grizzlies feeding on the fish? Yeah, so it's specifically a photo that he titled Catch of the Day. And it's a, you've definitely seen this photo. And it's like midair. Midair. Yep, that's exactly one where there's a sock eye salmon leaping midair into this grizzly's mouth at the falls. Yeah. Okay. I for some reason the first time, when my first thought was the picture of the polar bear like curled up and sleeping on this little iceberg. Oh, that one's so sad. I know. That's what that's, I don't know. And what was it the most

famous picture, wildlife picture in the world? Yeah, this is the most famous wildlife photograph in the world. Okay. So that's what he is known for, but he's also very widely known for his photographs of Crisly 399. So he first saw Grizzly 399 in 2006 when she arrived in the park. He has lived in Jackson Hole for the past 40 years and had been following her movements for the past 18 years. So the amount of dedication that this man has put into her is actually pretty astounding and incredible when you look at the numbers. So each year, every single year for the past 18 years, he spends 150 days per year documenting and following her, trying to see her. I shouldn't say following her because he wasn't I like talking about he would try and see her 150 days out of the year from when she emerged from

hibernation all the way to when she went back into hibernation in the winter. He spent the entire season following her movements. Now, if you are to Google Grizzly 399, his photographs are probably going to be the first to come up. He has some of the most widely known photographs of her. And I mean, his photographs are beautiful. They're really incredible. Actually, for this episode, I got, I have this book, I guess if this is on YouTube, people can see. So I got, this is a book that he collaborated on. It's called Grizzly 399, the world's most famous mother bear. And he did the photography in it.

And then also with this book, who's collaborated with Todd Wilkinson and Anderson Cooper. And the cover of this is one of his famous photos of Grizzly 399 and her four cubs, which her four cubs she had more recently a couple of years ago. And the whole book is a story of his interactions with them. Not face-to-face interactions. He was respectful. But his interactions over the years, observing them, his photographs, and also the conservation movements and stuff around her. So it's very, very interesting. And it's a beautiful, like, coffee table style book. But he's also did a PBS documentary called The Queen of the Teton's where they actually follow him and you can see the movements of Grizzly 399. You can watch and learn about her story on that too, which was

another resource I used for this episode. So if you are to Google her or look her up, his stuff comes up pretty much immediately. So he followed her story. He watched her raise her cubs and each spring anxiously waited to see if she would survive the winter as she aged. She became a staple in his life and by his own words so much so that he began to think of her as family. And he wasn't alone. Visitors, biologists and locals alike gravitated to her, watching her navigate in a landscape that is increasingly filled with people and not just surviving, but what looked to be thriving. And it was very exciting for people. People were observing her personality. and what a loving mother she was to her cubs.

And people really, really felt like she was this special, special bear. And because of this, she got special treatment. So in situations where other grizzlies would have been euthanized or relocated, she was given a pass. When she entered the town of Jackson, Wyoming and was disrupting people and getting into their garbages and wandering through their yards, she and her cubs were giving priority treatment. Instead of seeing these behaviors breeding the potential for dangerous situations for grizzly human conflict, like would have been done with other grizzlies, she was treated very differently. When she entered the town, she was actually given a police escort out where they followed her and led her from the neighborhoods, which you don't see.

You don't see that often. That's for sure. No. So they were seeing these behaviors that were concerning with us. other grizzlies when other grizzlies have and continue to be euthanized for that exact same behavior because they become habituated. They're associating people with food. They're getting into neighborhoods. And it does become dangerous. And while this seems like for her, it was a really happy solution because they were let her out of the park. She lived another day, continued raising

her cubs. Her cubs were okay. It actually was helping a problem that was happening with her and her cubs. So because these, like I said at the beginning of this episode, when she is becoming more and more habituated where she's going into these towns, where she's raiding garbages, where she's walking along the roadways, she is giving all of these behaviors to her cubs. She's teaching that. And it's actually creating a generation of grizzly bears who are going to be doing the same thing. So while it seems like this was a happy end, leading her out of Jackson Hole, it actually was indicating that there would be more signs of grisly human conflict. And similarly to her getting preferential treatment with police escorts,

park rangers in the National Park Park spent a lot of time controlling and monitoring the interactions between her and visitors to the park. She was commonly in areas where very large groups of people were there, which created the potential for more dangerous interactions. It's also important to note that while Grizzly 399 strategy to keep her cubs alive was a high success, her her cubs were becoming more habituated as well. While I said before that only two of her cubs didn't reach sub-adulthood, more than half of them have been involved with grizzly human conflict. It's important to note none of them have mauled or attacked a person as of yet, although I don't think that's something that people aren't expecting not to be a possibility. However, several have had to be

euthanized because of dangerous behavior and some of that behavior has been going into town like she had done. Along with that, she raised them to live along the roadways, which many have continued to do and in a result have died from getting hit by cars. And the ones who are alive and habituated have gone on to have their own cubs, who they are now teaching these behaviors to. And now biologists and rangers and law enforcement in the area are now starting to see that those traits that Grizzly 399 and behaviors she has passed down to not just her cubs but her like grant cubs yeah essentially yeah a big problem if they start you know just because they're going to pass it on if it's successful it's a if it's a behavior that's proving successful either in garnering resources or

affording them protection from other interactions with, or negative interactions with other bears and things like that. Like if there is a positive that comes from that type of behavior, they're going to keep doing it. And if they breed and rear cubs of their own, it's just, yeah, like, why not teach something that's a success for that bear to their offspring? It's just the way it goes. Yeah. So. Exactly. And it's, it's creating a lot of question marks of what the future is going to look like because while at first her having all these cubs in it being so successful was this really positive sign that the grizzly population was going to come back and they're having all these new cubs and offspring that are happening if they're dying and being euthanized then that kind of negates the whole the whole promising side of

the upswing of the population so while this is very concerning and something that is going to be a behavior and activity within the park that we're going to be monitoring. Not me personally, but them. They will be monitoring for a long. Someone else. I'm not a wildlife biologist, but someone else will be monitoring for years from now, even after Grizzly 399's death. It is important to note that something else was happening also because of Grizzly 399.

Her presence in the park was bringing the interest in grizzly conservation to unprecedented. levels. For years, state and federal natural resource agencies, along with politicians, have been arguing that grizzlies have recovered from their endangered species status and that their protection should be moved from a federal level to a state level, meaning that states can decide when and how many can be hunted for sport or if and how they're conserved. While experts agree that they have made a remarkable recovery and anticipate that the numbers of Grizzlies will continue to grow. They have huge reservations about delisting them. First, the population of grizzlies and the greater Yellowstone ecosystem lack genetic diversity.

Experts have been waiting and hoping that the range between the Grizzlies and Glacier National Park and the greater Yellowstone ecosystem will merge into one and those bears will begin mating to create a more diverse gene pool. But that has yet to happen. And as of right now, there's no signs that that's going to happen anytime soon. I think, and I don't know if this is something that you're going to cover in this portion, but I think the biggest thing that wildlife biologists and conservationists are aware of, but I think the just general population is not, is we hear a lot of times about certain areas being protected and kind of like a safe haven for various different species, and that's so wonderful and clearly needed. But we,

what's equally as important for this exact reason, this genetic diversity opportunity is wildlife corridors. So it's great if you have pockets of protected areas for the grizzly, but if they can't move between those pockets of protected space, that genetic diversity is not going to, it's not going to happen because they're just isolated populations. And they're kind of like little islands in and of themselves. And I think that the different strips of land and wildlife corridors that could connect those places are just as important as the spaces themselves. But we don't often think about that because you think of like these big parks and these big nature reserves and that's all great and well and good and necessary. But if the animals can't move freely between them,

I mean, we have another problem altogether. Yeah. Yeah. And that's such a good point. And it is something that I do dive into a little bit further into the episode, but part of that, like you're saying, is, for example, if you look at Grand Teton National Park, if the bears are inside of the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park, they are protected. Without a doubt, protected, they are safe there. However, Grand Teton National Park doesn't have fences. You know, these bears don't know that if they cross a certain line, they're no longer protected because, for example, when they head across that boundary and they go into the Bridger-Teton National Forest, they're completely at risk if they are delisted. And that is a matter of depending where they are, this whole ecosystem is one that most of these bears are roaming and

they're not just staying specifically in the park. That's a matter of a mile or two. And they go from full protections to none. And it's a very scary thought because not only with what you're saying, it doesn't afford them the opportunity to go to these other places and diversify the genetic gene pool, but it also can hinder the progress in the population growth that has happened because if there's just this small pocket of the country where they're protected and nowhere else, how do you keep them in growing numbers if they're allowed to be hunted? Yeah, and we talked a lot about this, I think, I recall, in my Wolf-O-6-6. story that we did years ago as well because Wolf 06 was drawn out of the park and killed.

And that is the addition of buffer zones around national parks are also something that is talked a lot about for this exact reason. Like, you know, animals have no idea the second they step over this invisible boundary. So the talk of putting additional buffer zones around already protected areas is something that's talked about a lot and I don't know what the status is on various parks and a lot of them are out west here because there are species inside that need that buffer zone, right? Yeah. So I'm just so interested to see, I'll just let you talk because I think I'm going to jump ahead. Well, I think what I'm about to go into is maybe the direction that you're heading into. So we'll talk about this too because I

think you'll definitely have things to say about this. So their first concern is, what you were saying, having corridors, and being able to diversify their DNA and their genetics. The second huge concern that they have and a huge argument that they have is that they don't trust, they don't believe that the state can be trusted to safeguard large predators. And they use wolves as a major example of this. So for example, 85% of Wyoming allows the killing of wolves 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, without any control numbers, anything like that. And in our history, animals that have been listed on the Endangered Species Act and then delisted after they recover and being taken off have never been massacred to the extreme that wolves have been.

And they worry that delisting grizzlies will garner the same results because they have similar, they're very similar in concerns for the public where they can get into livestock. They get onto people's property. they can be considered a nuisance animal and they are very concerned that if they delist them, that the exact same thing that is happening to wolves as we speak is going to happen to grizzly bears. Yeah. And the added, just to add to that list, they're an animal similar to wolves that people are afraid of. There's a public safety element that, you know, people have, whether it's founded or not, I mean, don't get me started on wolves. But, you know, they're a big predator. They're scary, you know. And I think that adds fuel to the fire of people wanting to hunt them if the opportunity is presented.

There's always going to be some level of poaching for any animal around the world. That's just how it is. Whether or not it's legal to kill an animal doesn't matter to some people. So we'll always have that kind of in the mix as well. But you're right. As soon as it's handed over to the states, I mean, I feel like wolves, using wolves as an example, you know, it's like you made all of these strides forward after almost a century, you know, a lot of different, I'm thinking of the wolf reintroduction in the 90s, the two actually. And it's like all of the decades of work

that so many people put into recovering the species and reintroducing after a near century of extirpation, like, you know, from the lower 48. And they have all this great, all these great, all these great strides being made. And then as soon as they're, and it's debated whether or not they were actually considered recovered. If you, if you ask one person versus another, you're going to get two answers. A lot of the scientists. The same with the Grizzlies as of right now. Yeah. A lot of the scientific community is like, no, these numbers are not, do not justify them being delisted and their management handed over to the states. But, you know, there's a lot of politics involved. And sometimes they don't really care about that number.

And they're like, it's basically in layman's terms, it's good enough. We're going to federally delist them and hand them back over to the states. And then just to see the steps taken backwards of all of the hard work that was put in. And not to mention the millions and millions of dollars that goes into recovering a species to that extent. And then it's like, it's kind of just like, you know, two steps forward, four steps back type of thing. And it's just. And then you're back at square one and you essentially have to re-enter the fight and relist them and re-like, it's everything if you don't do it properly the first time you have to redo everything, assuming you can even get to that point because starting the protection of species is already a struggle. So to lose that protection and then have to regain it again because it's not properly managed is very disheartening to have to think about.

and is something that we're actively seeing for grizzly bears right now, it's an active argument that is going on with grizzlies. Yeah. Well, I hope that we're not going to see the same exact thing happen with grizzlies as we have seen with wolves. And honestly, it's hard to keep up. It is so hard to keep up between the federal level and the state level. And then once it's at the state level, what state is doing what?

And with wolves in particular, like, there is so much. many times they're flipping and flopping on different protected, not protected, kind of protected. They're protected here, but not there. It's just, it's really difficult to keep up with. And I, I don't think that the Grizzlies will, if they're found in the same position, I don't think they would be as hated as wolves are. Like, I do agree that they're going to be in a tough situation because of the things you've outlined. And I think that if protection is afforded to states or the decision and states do allow hunting, people will line up for that for sure. But I don't think they're going to be as like full of like gung ho.

Yeah, gung ho. But we'll see. I mean, I hope we don't have to find out. Well, I do have some numbers for that specific worry actually. Oh, okay. Yeah, please. Yeah. So one thing that has been really interesting.

about the grizzly conservation efforts is now that Grizzly 399 has come into the mix, she has actually garnered so much attention that people, the public, there's been a public outcry for the conservation of Grizzlies because of their love for her. People are more interested in them. People are, even though we say, like, you shouldn't give animals human emotions, people are seeing her as a person. people are seeing her as something to be to be beloved and treasured. And it created, it's created this atmosphere where there's been more of a, more of a public want to protect grizzly bears. But despite their public concern and also all of these other concerns that experts are arguing with the lack of genetic diversity and the worry with the state, in 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife. service officials actually did delist grizzlies outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National

Parks and announced that they were allowing, they were going to be allowing hunting in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. On May 23rd, 2018, a wildlife commission voted unanimously on the approval of a grizzly bear hunt that would allow the killing of up to 22 bears. And if this were to go through, this would have been the first hunt in over 40 years. When it was announced, Grizzly 399 actually had the biggest target on her back. She was considered to be the most famous bear in the world, and therefore, she was considered the biggest trophy for a hunter to get. So when this was announced, hunters came out of the woodwork saying, Grizzly 399, I'm coming for you.

And while she... Okay. Yeah. I'll just keep my mouth shut, but... We know. I've already rambled enough, but... Holy shit. So while she, like I said before, while she tends to hang out in the national park and would be safe there, she dens in the national forest.

Or dend, I should say, because we do know that she passed. But at this time, she dend in the national forest. And whenever she would enter there or den there with her cubs, she would have no protection. But when this was announced, people were excited. And over 7,000 people applied for a grizzly tag in the lottery system. and that if they won, they would be issued, they would have to pay $600 for a license, and then they would have 10 days to go out and hunt. And a lot of people wanted to use those 10 days to get Grizzly 399.

And I'll say she had cups at the time, too. So it's messed up. But with this, like I said before, people love Grizzly 399. And conservationists, hunters even, and the public alike were outraged at this announcement. The threat towards Grizzlies and specifically 399 sparked a movement that was called Shoot him with a camera, not a gun. And this movement was spearheaded by five local women to Jackson Hole. And this idea was to get anyone who was not interested in hunting grizzlies for trophies or at all

to enter the lottery and to take up space. And the thought with this was that they would get randomly chosen in this lottery and they would buy up these licenses to stop other hunters from being, to stop other hunters from coming in. And even hunters were joining in on this too. There were hunters who came in and said, this isn't right. I want to hunt, but I'm not trophy hunting a grizzly. I think that's wrong. So there were a lot of people from, there was just the public conservationists, biologists, hunters, everyone were coming together in this movement that these five women started. And a famous conservationist like Jane Goodall and Cynthia Moss entered their names into the lottery.

Many of the public followed by example and added their names as well with no intention of hunting the Grizzlies, obviously. And by a coincidence, which we don't believe in, or just a stroke of faith, photographer Tom Mangelson, name was drawn and he bought a license, vowing to go into the park and only take photographs while he was there. Wow. I got a little chill in that way. Yeah. Yeah. With this movement, nearly 40,000 people spoke out against the plan to hunt in Wyoming. And actually, when I was reading the statistics, Idaho decided to forego the hunt in general.

And I think Montana agreed that they could hunt one grizzly bear, like one specific one. But in September of 2018, a federal judge overturned the decision to de-list grizzlies in that region and actually deemed that it was illegal to delist them in general, which put a halt to this hunting plan, which was a huge win for conservationists, was a huge win for the public, was a huge win for everyone who loved Grizzly 399. So this was exciting and it did halt Wyoming's plans for the hunt, but it has not stopped entirely. The state of Wyoming and Montana. Montana. Montana. God, I'm talking for too long. The state of Wyoming and Montana has continued to fight for the delisting of the bears and argue that the federal government has no long-term management

plan for their recovery and a tentative plan to delist them or not has not been announced and they are waiting for a decision to be made. The governor of Wyoming was quoted saying, first and foremost, grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem never should have been put back on the endangered species list. Populations in the GYE have reached recovery goals multiple times over in the last 40 years. Being successfully delisted twice, yet they remain protected under the ESA and under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to litigation. Wyoming is demanding a decision and a response of whether or not they'll be delisted and if they're not being delisted a tentative plan on their recovery. And they want this response by today of this

recording October 31st, 2024. Oh, which is literally while we're recording this episode. So I imagine by the time this comes out, there will potentially. be more updates on this, but as of right now, this is an argument that is ongoing and there is a potential of Grizzlies being delisted very shortly unless there's a plan put in place federally. Okay. It's a lot of pressure. All of a sudden, I feel. Yeah.

I didn't feel it a minute ago. Got eight hours till the end of today. And now with the recent death of Grizzly 399, Bear conservationists and the public are really worried about the protections of the future. Now, right now, the public and people like Tom Mangelson are mourning her death. And headlines like the mother we shared reflections of the life of Bear 399 and headlines like animal lovers mourn the death of Grizzly 399 have been filling the media. A flood of support and remembrance of her has been posted from people who love her on social media. I mean, it's everywhere people posting photos, videos, TikToks of their experiences with her photographers posting their best photos of her.

and remembering her life and what she has meant to them. For a lot of people, it inspired adventures into the park. For a lot of people, it was a journey of finding themselves within seeing wildlife. She was so much more to people than just this wildlife celebrity. And she connected a lot of people to nature in ways that they hadn't expected. And in turn, created this conservation movement for Grizzlies, which again is something that we have a fight for that is happening now. In a quote from wildfile.com, a person was quoted saying, I often explain to people it's not about who she is.

It's about what she's taught us about her species and ourselves. Grizzly 399 embodied resilience, adaptability, and tolerance throughout her life. She taught me the importance of resilience, how to bounce back quickly in times of hardship or struggle. She's inspired thousands to adventure to the park, made bear advocates out of the most unsuspecting people, and inspired journalists and photographers to dedicate their careers to her. Her death is the end of a legacy inside the park and what will come in the wake of her death is yet to be determined. From Bear Conservation to the habituation of her offspring that are now inside the park, there are so many question marks left unknown of what is to come. And I know that there are a lot of people listening

who loved her and felt a connection to her. And I know she is deeply personal to many people. So in honor of that, I wanted to add your as the listener's personal stories to this episode. So like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, I asked on social media if any of you had stories of her and three of you did. So I have a few Grizzly 399 trail tales for you all. Yay. Well, thank you for, before we move on to people's personal experiences. That was great. I mean, you know, I love nothing more than wildlife conservation stories. And that was the true embodiment of it. And it is, it's as every single episode that has that theme, it's so multifaceted and it's so complicated. There is no, she was beloved and did no wrong. And it's just a

tragedy through and through. Like there are nuances to her story. And a lot of people are unaware of that, especially if you're not like super into wildlife biology, like you don't know. that her raising her cubs by the roadway was a potential issue. Like, you're like, oh, you need to buy the roadway. You know, like, oh, I get to see her. She's close. Like, this is her wild habitat. A road happens to be here.

So I can, yeah. I think that there's something to be said about, you know, I think there are dangerous things about making a bearer celebrity. Like, for example, for any animal celebrity. Or any animal celebrity. But for example, for her, I mean, she was exhibiting dangerous behavior. that were overlooked because she was loved. And now the consequences of that, we don't know. But, or we're starting to see, but we don't know the full extent of where that's going to head. But on the

other end of that, she inspired so many people and she, part of what is going to make conservation continue to happen and how we are going to be successful in saving species and really any type of environmental aspect of the world is making people care. And that is something that she did. So there's there's bad parts of her story and there's parts that you can't not, you can't look away from. The impacts that she had on everyone is something that I think will be felt for generations. And she is a bear that has left a legacy in the park and that won't change. It's just what happens from here because of it. Yeah. It's just like it's so interesting because she inadvertently did what so many different zoos are trying to do. You know, zoos have animals that serve as

ambassadors to their species in hopes that by people coming to see them and learning about them, that they will want to care for their wild counterparts. And she became this like ambassador animal for grizzlies. And no one put her in that role intentionally. And she just kind of became it. And she is an ambassador to Grizzlies, whether or not, you know, she's just, that was the intention or not. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Before we get to the trail tales, I have one book recommendation. Okay. I do have a little end point where we can talk about recommendations and stuff to you. And I have a little end follow up after the trail tales as well. Okay. I think right now is a great spot for your book if you would like to add. Are you sure? Because I can hold it. No, tell us. Okay. So the book, I have had this. on my shelf actually for a really long time. So the book is titled The Carnivore Way, coexisting with and conserving North America's Predators. And it's by Christina Eisenberg. And it is going kind of back to what we were discussing with wildlife corridors and the importance and things like that. It's basically it is broken into sections by animals. So there's wolves,

wolverines, jaguars, grizzlies, like all of like these iconic predators that are found in North America. And it just goes into the importance of giving them these spaces to roam and how vital it is for the longevity of their species. So yeah, if you're interested in that specifically, that's a cool. That's a really good one. Add it to the good reads. Yeah. Okay. Trail tales. I want to hear them. Trail tales in a normal episode. This is the first time this has happened. Okay. So my, So we have three trail tales. Danielle has agreed to read one of them. So it's not my voice for the next 30 more minutes as we read.

Okay. People love your voice. You remember people are like Cassie could record or you should record a yoga meditation. Meditation. It's like so. I can't do it. I have a harsh shrill voice.

Shrill. I don't know. Not maybe shrill. but you do not have a harsh shrill. Okay, well, my first trail tale is titled Grizzly 399 and a saint of a husband. I've been wanting to write a trail tale for a while, but never had one, but now it's my time. I love your show. Like everyone, Night of the Grizzlies is my favorite episode.

My name is Rebecca and my husband's name is Steve, and yes, you can use our names. For my husbands and I's honeymoon, we went to Yellowstone and in the Grand Teton's. We started in Yellowstone, and it was my first time. there, which was amazing. We got to see the wolves in Lamar Valley, and on our journey, I was telling him about Grizzly 399 and how I wanted to see her. He said, like it's a bare big deal. So we made our way down to the Teton's and not very far into the park. We saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road, so naturally we stopped to see what the fuss was about. We get out and talk to people and we saw two Grizzlies, and I asked, was that her? One of the other bystanders said, no, it's not $399. Then a few

minutes later, started running to their cars and someone said they saw $399 down the road. So we watched the Grizzlies there for a minute, then got in our car and drove down the road. We saw about 30 people with lawn chairs waiting in the opening on the side of the road. So my saint of a husband patiently waited with me as I talked to a complete stranger about $399. My husband waited with me for two hours. Like most men, patient isn't his thing. We saw nothing. Zero trace of her. So we decided to go up the road to Colter Bay Visitor Center to go to the bathroom. It turned out to be closed, but we didn't know that at the time. So we went back south, and as we were pulling up, we saw the same people stopped along the road. We stopped again, and they said they hadn't seen anything. No joke, the people with chairs

just left their chairs on the side of the road, got in their cars, and left. It reminded me of Twister when everyone caravanned along. We decided to follow them because after this long, what's a few more minutes. We got a couple miles up the road and there's probably close to 75 to 100 people there. We stopped and waited 20 minutes and nothing. I had given up at this point. We only had time to be in the Teton's for a few days and there was more to see. So we pulled away and that's the end of my trail tail. Not as we were driving. I was like, wait a second. Why are we reading that? As we were driving away, we saw a sow and her cub swimming in a pond a little bit up the road and I told my husband, I bet that's her,

399. So I drove a little bit more and turned around with my husband's disapproval and drove by. We saw nothing again, so drove past the horde of people and turned around. Then we stopped because there was another line of cars. A park ranger was yelling at someone to get back in their car because they were outside of their car close to bears. The best part of the story to me is the horde of people that were looking on the side of the road and she had crossed the road so people were looking the wrong direction. The ranger never said anything over the radio as he didn't want to draw attention to where she was. Out of the woods, she came and there was $3.99 walking past our car. Me being myself, I asked a volunteer park ranger, is that her? He said, yes, that's her. So patient prevailed

and after probably four hours of waiting altogether, I saw her. I remained calm when I saw her, but after pulling away and admiring the beauty of the teetons around us, I screamed an excitement to my husband that we had seen her. It honestly was the perfect place, the perfect time to get as close as we did. I applaud the Rangers in that specific area for dealing with the crazy people who wanted to see her. I apologize for the length of the story. As always, enjoy the view, but watch her back and have patience in national parks. Patience is a virtue.

Yeah. I always think that that's a great example story of how many people were really flocking to see her and that how habituated she was to people to have a hundred people sitting around and she would just accept that and and rangers had to mitigate that situation but it's cool that you did get to see her of course now we know that that is a more special experience because um she's no longer here yeah yeah all right i have mine it's titled grizzly 399 story hey you lovely ladies long-time listener, first story submission. I want to start out by saying how much I love the pod. The way you tell stories is captivating in the banter between y'all makes me feel like I'm just

hanging out with some of my girlfriends. All right, on to my story. My husband and I took our first National Park trip together in May of 2021. Thanks to COVID, we decided an outdoors trip would be the best. I quickly planned a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton's on two weeks notice. Overall, the trip was amazing. We spent the first four days in Yellowstone, seeing the iconic sights and spending a lot of time on the trails. We saw many grizzlies, black bears, and other wildlife that are a staple in the park. We were even lucky enough to observe a grizzly on one of the trails. We were the only people at that spot on the trail, and being in the presence of such a powerful animal in its natural habitat is something I truly will never forget.

We spent our last two days of the trip in Grand Teton National Park. After four activity-filled days in Yellowstone, I was physically exhausted. I told my husband there would be no long hikes that I hardly wanted to get out of the car. We spent most of our first day in the Teton's driving around and seeing the easy to access sites, such as Moran Row, Jenny Lake, Lakeshore, Jackson Lake Dam, etc. We were driving around the Signal Mountain area when we came across an immense amount of cars stopped on the side of the road and park employees directing traffic. I later learned what we were experiencing is called a bear jam. That's when I saw $399 in her set of quads. Being a novice in the outdoors and the national park world, I had no idea I had the honor of seeing such a famous bear. She was

letting her four kiddos lead the way down the road and she was bringing up the rear. This was my first time seeing a bear with her young. Despite all the cars and the chaos of all the people around them, The bears seemed completely unbothered and alternated between walking down the middle of the road and the woods. 399 walked right by our vehicle. I could have reached out and touched her, but obviously I would never do that. And when she got close, I rolled up my windows. Looking back through my pictures, I was actually fortunate enough to get a picture that included all five of them. I went the rest of the trip without knowing it was $3.99 at all.

Later, when I was sharing this with a friend at work, she got excited about how I saw such a famous bear and how special that must have been. It was then that I started following the updates of 399 on social media and learning more about her story. Over the last three years, I've become quite the fan girl of this beautiful mama bear. I returned to the teetons in September of this year. This was a trip celebrating my graduation from NP school and my mom's 60th birthday. I told my parents all about 399 and was really hoping to see her again this trip. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. However, we did come across a grizzly on Signal Mountain. We were able to observe the bear digging and eating something from around the edge of a pond.

It was just the three of us in the grizzly. We observed it for about 20 minutes, and I'm sure the bear was aware of our presence, but didn't pay us any attention. This was the only grizzly we saw on that trip and truly was a beautiful experience to share with some of the most important people in my life. Hearing of 399's death truly did sadden me to my core. My mom even said, I knew it was going to upset you. Knowing I'll never have the opportunity to see her again makes me realize how truly special that day was in May of 2021. Wishing y'all nothing but the best, Fallon. Wow.

Yeah. Very cool experience. Yeah. And I also saw a grizzly in Saginal Mountain area. So that was where I saw mine in Grand Teton National Park, too. Oh. Yeah. But what a cool experience to be able to see her and her four cubs because she did have a litter of four cubs, which is very rare.

And especially she did that. I think she was 26 when she had them, 25 or 26, which is already an unheard of time for bears to still be reproducing like that and to have four was incredible. So not only did you get to see Bear 399, but you actually got to see a really special and rare moment of her and her four cubs. Yeah, truly. Yeah. Okay, my next story is titled Huckleberry Wine, 399 and the absolute experience of a lifetime. Hi, Danielle. and Cassie, as many do, I want to start off by saying how much I adore your podcast. You two are the most amazing storytellers and I love that you use your platform to promote conservation efforts and wilderness safety. Listening to your podcast has gotten me through some of the toughest points of the last few years, truly. I have been wanting to write in with this story for about two years since I listened to your very first Trail Tales episode. I hadn't done it because I knew it would take a lot of time and I wanted to write it well. Last week, after shedding many tears when the news came out that she was hit and killed by a car, I decided that it was time. Ironically, I just saw your story on Facebook

requesting stories with her, and I just finished typing this up last night to send us a trail-tale story. No such thing as coincidences. I was going to beg you to do an episode or two or three on her, L.O.L. Anyways, clearly, you have heard of Grizzly 399, the queen of the Teton's, and I want to share the most beautiful experience I had with her that still brings tears to my eyes and sends chills through my body when I think about it. I hope you too enjoy the story, even if it doesn't end up on the pod. I first learned about the bear during the summer of 2019 when I worked as a Wrangler in Grand Teton National Park. Talk about an amazing summer. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with her story, even though I didn't see her in person, at least as far as I know, during my summer working in the

Teton's. I followed her story on social media for the next two years, and reading about her and seeing the photographs brought me so much joy. When I got back to the Grand Grand Teton during the summer of 2021, I had one goal to C-399 and her quads in person. This was an insane year in bear history, because not only did this famous bear have five babies, but she also kept them all alive until they were two years old when they were sent out on their own. My wonderful grandfather knew how much I loved the Teton's, and he took me there for an entire week. That trip will always be one of my favorite memories. My grandfather was 76 at the time, and kicking absolute ass, going on 10 to 12 mile hikes with me

every day. Somehow, we hadn't seen a single bear during the first six days there, which was nuts to me because the teetons are absolutely crawling with bears. When I worked out there in 2019, we canceled rides one day because five different bears came through the corrals within the span of about four hours. Oh my gosh. That is bear activity. On our last two nights of the trip, we went to Yellowstone for two days. My grandpa had only ever spent a day and a half or two in the detons as a side attraction to Yellowstone, so getting to show him how much there is in the park was super special. I went horseback riding with some friends who I'd work with years before. Feel free to use their names.

Bailey, the Corral Foreman, and Bella, the lead wrangler, took Jess and I, who were just visiting, on a three-hour trail ride through a creek and through some amazing areas of the park that I had missed so much. We laughed so hard we were in tears. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed that hard or felt so happy. That's just what the Teton's do to you. I feel that.

The next day, Jess, Bella, and I spent an afternoon. afternoon at Swim Beach having a campfire and hanging out in hammocks before going riding again. Bella was going to take us down a little known road. The word is used very loosely. It's more of a trail. That really wasn't used anymore. No one was ever on it and had some good safe stretches to gallop the horses. Running horses is always fun, but with the wildlife, the teetons, we could only do it in long stretches where we could see coming around a corner and running into a grizzly was something that would not happen. Jess bought some Huckleberry wine, which was pure nostalgia. for all of us from when we worked at Coulter Bay, and we drank that while we rode.

I was on my favorite horse from 2019 Aztec, Jess on Fox Lady and Bella on another 2019 favorite Big Sky. We galloped a few stretches and were having a blast. We kept talking about how this was it. This was our night and we were going to see $3.99. We had this running joke in 2019 where we would yell, if there's a bear out there, fuck off. because we would go on a wrangler-only ride. If a bear was too close to the trail, we had to turn around. That happened a lot and was frustrating because we wanted to run.

Funny to think about how spoiled we got that we were annoyed by too many bears by the trail and getting caught in bear jams. Really puts things into perspective looking back. So we kept our goofy saying from 2019, but after fuck off, we added, unless you're 399 and the quads, then please stay. We listened to some Disney songs. We're singing, sipping our huckleberry wine, and having the time of our life. We got to the meal site. We took some pictures. I'll attach some to this email and just enjoyed being in our favorite part of the country doing our favorite activity. After a bit, our horses started acting skitsy and kept looking towards the brush off to our left. We heard rustling in the bushes. I remember Bella saying, it's probably a deer or something. And Jess and I said in sync, no. It's $3.99 and the quads. I can't explain how we knew because we couldn't see anything yet other than we just knew. We saw one little head pop up followed by another. Two little grizzly cubs were standing on their

back legs to get a better look at us. They look so confused. We immediately backed our horses up significantly so we were a few hundred yards away and went up onto a ridge. Jess and I were losing our minds, tears coming out of our eyes, about to pee ourselves from excitement. Listening to ourselves in videos we took later on is hilarious. And that's when she came out. Grizzly 399, Queen of the Teton's. She stood up on her back legs to get a better look at us. She walked out into the meadow with her four cubs in tow. She kept an eye on us, but didn't seem concerned. She was aware of us, but never once showed any sign of aggression. Her babies, on the other hand, looked very confused. I have always wondered if animals realize we are people on horses or if they

think we're some weird horse human hybrid creature. We got to watch them from about 10 minutes as they foraged in the meadow. That beautiful bear gave us the best gift that day. She graced us with her presence in an area of the park not frequented by tourists. It was just the three of us, our horses, and the bears for the entire experience. We got a private viewing of this beautiful mama and her babies. I'm not sure I've ever been as happy as I was that night, and that very well may still be the coolest thing to have ever happened to me. My poor grandpa didn't see a single bear while we were in the Teton's. I, on the other hand, ended up seeing six, one black bear the night before, including the most famous bear in the world. Don't worry, though, he saw one black bear

mama and two babies in Yellowstone. I, like you two, don't believe in coincidences. I believe that Jess and I were on the same wavelength as the bear that night. She gave us the ultimate blessing, and I am forever grateful to her for giving us that experience. I did not believe in manifesting before then, but I do now. I hope you enjoyed my story. It wasn't spooky or morbid, but more of a feel-good animal story, and I know you guys enjoy those too. I attached a few pictures and videos. Neither are that good because we were a couple hundred yards away and just had our phones. You're welcome to post any of the pictures, but the videos are for your eyes only, please. Not something I'd want just anyone to hear, but I think our reactions verbally were pretty funny,

and I would guess you can understand our excitement. If I had one takeaway from the story, it would be to never doubt your ability to make something you want happen, and that it is absolutely possible to connect with nature or a creature on a special level. I truly believe our energy and our souls connected with that bear that night, and that is why we had the experience of a lifetime. Or maybe Huckleberry Wine is just that lucky. What I do know for sure, though, is that I will never forget this special memory with that special bear.

399 sure was one hell of a bear. Thank you guys for all you do. I could gush about this bear for days, so we'll end the story here. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. And never pass up a glass of Huckleberry wine. Rest in peace, queen of the Teton's. Lots of love to you both. Grace.

That sounds like one of the most, bear, you know, citing of $3.99 clearly was like the epitome of that story. But even just without, that sounds like the best day. It really does. Right? Like you and your two friends,

drinking wine on horseback in the teetons, one of those beautiful spots in the country, just having like the best experience with your friends. Yeah. I mean, dream day. Totally. Totally. It was really nostalgic for me reading that because I worked in the teetons in a ranch years ago and I visit recently and just there's something about being on horseback

and out with your friends in the mountains and to have that experience. But then to add such a special experience with wild life. I follow you're there. It's just a really cool story. Yeah. Cool. I loved the incorporation of people's experiences just because this is, was a story just so heavily involved with others and their perception of this bear. So it was a cool addition. Thank you. And thank you everyone for sharing your stories that wrote into us. It is really interesting to hear how special she was to people. And I really wanted to highlight that she was special. But I also wanted to highlight to highlight, that it's a double-edged sword because of the habituation and the problems that are going on and have

yet to be fully seen within the park and the ecosystem that is there. But you can't deny there will probably never be another bear like her. And we lived in a time where she existed. And a lot of people have a lot of special memories with her. So to end of this episode, I do want to leave you all with a quote from the book I mentioned earlier, Grizzly 399, the world's most famous mother bear. And that quote is, we hope the celebration of 399 will inspire you to give voice to species that desperately need us. The same heartfelt fascination, respect, and love that you have for 399 should be carried forward and extended to other beings with which we share this earth. Nothing would be better commemoration of Grizzly 399. It would be a profound declaration that she mattered. That's how we can make

her legacy part of our own. Are you intentional? trying to make me cry because no but I just loved that quote it's so be it's just so true and I think about it a lot with not just 399 but with other animals like wolf 06 and then for people who are familiar with uh the wolf Romeo up in Alaska which I haven't done his story yet but I will and like p22 like the mountain lion that another story in the works just like these iconic animals that people just love so much individually. It's just the best thing that you can do for them, despite whatever tragedy befalls them, or if they just pass away naturally, is to extend that same compassion to others of their species. And that's just all we can do for the creatures we share

this little world with. And I think that was just a beautiful way to end it. So, thank you. Welcome. And beautifully said, And I hope that if $399 is someone you hadn't heard of before, I hope that her story resonates with you and that this was something that this was an episode that meant something to you. And I really enjoyed researching her and learning more about her and the impact that she's had. And I will definitely be looking on to see what's happening with the Grizzly delisting in Wyoming and what's going to come of that. And who knows from this recording, like we mentioned before, this is being recorded. on October 31st, which is the deadline of when we're supposed to start getting some answers. So we'll see when this, we'll see if you haven't looked it up or if there's no news, like look it up as you're listening right now because as of right now, I don't know, but there could be some big changes that have happened. All right.

Well, thank you everyone for tuning in and we will see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at npadpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our outsiders-only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions

to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For our exclusive, of discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates, and more, visit our website at npadpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com. Answer.

some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.