According to the federal government, a total of 50 known and probable grizzly bear deaths have occurred so far during 2017, the most recent dating back to November 2nd. Of these, all but 3 occurred inside the Demographic Monitoring Area (DMA). Given the lag in time between when deaths occur and when they are posted online, we can expect this total to increase before the last bears are in their dens.

 

This total is comparable to the record numbers of grizzly bear deaths recorded during 2015 and 2016. Further, "known" and "probable" mortalities are not the whole story, simply because many bear deaths go unrecorded. When you apply an estimator that the federal government uses to account for this unknown mortality, about 70 bears or roughly 10% of the 690 or so Yellowstone grizzly bears living inside the DMA have died during 2017.

 

As during 2015 and 2016, this death rate is about twice what can be sustained. It is not surprising that the population has almost certainly declined during the previous 3 years and will have likely declined again during the last 12 months.

 

The exponential increase in grizzly bear deaths that began during 2007 calls into question the wisdom of removing federal protections (“delisting”) and legalizing state-sponsored trophy hunting. It also raises questions about the deafening silence among government officials, to which there is actually an obvious answer. Admissions that Yellowstone grizzly bears still face severe threats could throw cold water on the government’s claims that delisting was warranted.