Even the protected confines of Yellowstone National
Park aren’t safe for grizzly bears. Park visitors Aug. 23 found
three male grizzlies electrocuted by a downed powerline in the
park’s Hayden Valley.
The two adults and one
adolescent grizzly were probably killed at different times during
the previous two weeks when they touched the live powerlines. A
fallen tree had stretched the line close to the ground, but since
it never broke, Montana Power remained unaware of the
accident.
Environmental groups in the region say
the deaths prove that a recent proposal to remove Yellowstone
grizzlies from the federal endangered species list is premature.
“This just puts more pressure on them to slow down the delisting
process,” Matt Reid of the Great Bear Foundation told the Salt Lake
Tribune. “If bears aren’t safe in Hayden Valley, that’s bad.”
Biologists think the bears were using the power
corridor as a travel route and may have been attracted by the
buzzing of the charged line.
“Diane
Kelly
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Powerlines prove fatal.
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