Reward Offered for Recent Killing of Yaak Valley Grizzly Bear

December 14, 2020

(YAAK, Montana)—Today, the Yaak Valley Forest Council together with Save The Yellowstone Grizzly are offering a supplemental reward for the recent killing of a Yaak Valley grizzly bear.

An adult female grizzly bear was brutally killed in the Yaak Valley in late November. The killer or killers shot the bear, partially skinned and mutilated her before dumping the body in a driveway. At present, it is unknown if she had cubs.

A reward fund up to $50,000 plans to be added to the already-existing state reward fund for help leading to a conviction.

“Often called “the walking dead,” the tiny population of grizzly bears in northwest Montana’s Yaak Valley—the most endangered in the state – has grizzly advocates seeking to supplement the state and federal Reward/TIPS program for information leading to conviction for this crime,” stated Montana grizzly bear advocate, author, and activist Doug Peacock for Save The Yellowstone Grizzly.

“Yaak grizzlies are already beset by an out-of-compliance high-volume through-hiker trail in their fragile habitat, a proposed mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains, and a Kootenai National Forest that seeks to implement clearcutting across four contiguous project areas totaling almost 250,000 acres without any Environmental Impact Statement—well, you get the picture—Yaak grizzlies need our help,” added Yaak Valley Forest Council Board Chair, author, and activist Rick Bass.

“There is such villainy in this act that I can hardly express my rage and sadness,” continued Montana-based author, environmental historian, and conservationist Betsy Gaines Quammen.

If you have information regarding this killing, call the state at: 1-800-TIP-MONT.

“Please help us turn this around. There were an estimated 25 grizzlies remaining in the Yaak. Now that estimate is 24,” concluded author and activist Terry Tempest Williams of Save The Yellowstone Grizzly.

Donations to the reward fund can be made at: www.yaakvalley.org

www.yaakvalley.org
www.savetheyellowstonegrizzly.org