The Legacy of Grizzly 399

Words by Blake DeBock

My story with Grizzly 399 begins in early 2020, when I set off in the American West in search of what would be next for myself and my carrier. What I found would soon change my life forever. Driving through Grand Teton National Park I watched as a grizzly bear mother, with four tiny cubs, came down from over a hill, through the springtime wildflowers and right past my truck! I came to find out that bear was the famous Grizzly 399. I was so awestruck at the experience that later in the day I went to meet Tom Mangelsen; A legendary wildlife photographer in the area that I had looked up to for my entire photographic journey for his work with cougars. He had been photographing this bear for well over a decade and I quickly learned about the significance of my encounter.

Grizzly 399 got her name simply because she was the three hundred and ninety ninth bear to be captured and tagged by researchers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. As one of the first grizzly bears to move south from Yellowstone into Grand Teton National Park, Grizzly 399 found the area to be a safe place to raise her cubs and she played a huge role in repopulating the valley for her species.

She was famous for being a prolific mother and it was clear her intelligence was playing a big role in the success. She taught her offspring habits to benefit from humans rather than be harmed by them and has lived her life with a clean record and no instances of bad bear behavior such as bluff charging, attacking humans or going through human trash. She learned to adapt her biological tendencies and not hibernate until very late in the season, consuming guts left by hunters in Grand Teton’s unique elk hunt at that time of the year. She also raised her cubs nearby roads and populated areas of the national park, knowing that the big male bears that would kill her cubs to mate with her would rarely come so far out of the backcountry to bother her here. Being frequently around roadways she even learned to look both ways for her cubs before allowing them to cross to avoid being struck by vehicles, an unfortunate common cause of death among bears.

Grizzly 399 even seems to be genetically predisposed to giving birth to larger litters of cubs. Grizzly mothers will most commonly give birth to one or two cubs. This is because the more cubs they have actually decreases the survival rate as the mother would have to expend significantly more energy in caring for each of them. Despite the decreased odds with having more cubs, over the years she is known to have had 3 sets of triplets! One of those triplet cubs, Grizzly 610, has even gone on to become a prolific mother herself giving her several grandchildren and later on even giving birth to her own triplets! Though for Grizzly 399, let alone any grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, raising quadruplets was unheard of. Realizing the importance, I began my journey of watching and learning from this bear.

First Spring With The Quads

The entire Spring of 2020, I observed Grizzly 399 as she raised her four little cubs. The world was expanding for them, filled with new scents and sounds, each one igniting their senses as they moved through the seasons. Miraculously all four of them survived to the winter, following mom back up to their den in the mountains. Over that summer I watched as people just like me saw them for the first time and the way that she was touching peoples lives. For most people the sight of a bear in the wild is a life changing experience and being able to learn first-hand the great story of a bear like 399 is incredibly inspiring. For years anyone who wanted to see a grizzly in the wild could travel to Grand Teton National Park and their chances of seeing Grizzly 399 raising her cubs was remarkably high. She even brought in millions of dollars of revenue to Jackson from people who traveled there just to see her. The more people that saw her, the more people realized that they should care about this species. Until now grizzlies have been painted with fear but for the first time in history that is no longer the case. Today bears are worth more alive than they are dead and there is much to learn from them. She has educated the world and proved to be an animal with exceptional intelligence, compassion and grace. We should ensure that these wonderful creatures are granted the inherent rights and protections to live their lives in the wild.

Trouble With The Fame

During the second summer for Grizzly 399’s quadruplets, she brought her cubs south towards the town of Jackson, a place where five grizzly bears could easily find themselves in a lot of trouble. They even created quite the buzz one night as she led them straight through the streets of town, where they were caught on security cameras and surprised locals. Despite the risks, they proved to be good bears, never finding themselves in conflict with humans or creating any human associations with food. Though their track record remained good, her notoriety and presence was creating problems. One dreaded night several government agencies worked together in an attempt to secretly capture 399 and the quads with their intentions unbeknownst.

They were only able to capture three of the cubs leaving 399 to search through the night in great distress until her stolen cubs were released, eventually finding their way back to mom. The attempt created a ripple of distress through the community. The two male cubs now wear tracking collars with their whereabouts known to officials should a future mistake be made. In a sense the family was on their last strike. All of their lives now depended on their mothers leadership to keep them out of trouble.

That autumn, a sense of abundance lingered in the air, as the family of bears roamed their territory. They feasted on guts left behind by hunters, a windfall that sustained them through the brisk days and cool nights. With five mouths to feed this was a time of preparation, where each meal was a crucial step toward the months of scarcity that lay ahead. They stayed out until the new year when a significant winter storm caught up to them leaving mom to break trail through the deep snow to their den site.

Journeying South Again

In April of 2022, with four large subadult cubs restless and ready for spring, Grizzly 399 emerged from her den site at the first sign of warmer weather. In the following days it proved to be a false spring and more winter storms quickly rolled in. Her trusty hunting grounds were completely void of food and the animals she relied on still hadn’t yet migrated back into the National Park. This was the quadruplets third and final spring with mom and their was still much for them to learn. In just a couple of weeks it would be time for her to push them out into the world alone. Searching for food, she headed straight south to a warmer environment, back towards the town of Jackson where she found so much trouble in the previous season. Myself and a small handful of others who had been waiting for a glimpse of her watched with tears in our eyes as she navigated down the Snake River through large private ranches and towards the town. She could be easily killed here if she found herself in the wrong situation.

Last Days Together

Though it hardly felt like spring yet, the weather warmed slightly and Grizzly 399 brought her cubs back home to Grand Teton National Park after two weeks on private ranches near the town of Jackson. These days she kept the family moving, showing them all around their home range in what felt like a final goodbye. Each step she took was deliberate, yet the playful bounding of her cubs still echoed with the spirit of discovery. They ventured slightly away, testing their boundaries further than they ever had before. Their independence was nearing and it was a wonderful time to observe and photograph them. A few days later they all went their separate ways. She had achieved the impossible, raising four cubs to the point where they could go off on their own and becoming the only bear known to do so.

A Final Goodbye - Grizzly 399 (1996-2024)

Recently in October of 2024, Grizzly 399 was tragically struck by a car and killed but her legacy will live on forever. Within this one bear’s story is the power to change the worlds view of the entire species. Soon the way we look at these magnificent animals will be vastly different than how we saw them a century or even a decade ago and that is what I hope to do by telling her incredible story.