A grizzly who grew up in front of hundreds of Grand Teton National Park visitors has been relocated to his birthplace after killing cattle south of Jackson.

Biologists released grizzly bear No. 587 in the Pilgrim Creek drainage in Grand Teton on July 4, a day after he was captured. The release site was along a short road that is closed to the public, Grand Teton Senior Wildlife Biologist Steve Cain said.

Born in 2006, the young male is the son of bear No. 399, who became famous for raising three cubs on the Grand Teton roadside near the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River. Visitors and photographers by the hundreds flocked to the area to watch the cubs.

A cowboy recently witnessed Bear No. 587 killing a calf in the Tosi Creek area of the Upper Green River drainage, Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke said Thursday. For a grizzly, Tosi Creek is a hop, skip and jump from Grand Teton's eastern border - about 60 miles away.

National Forest land in the Upper Green is the site of several sheep and cattle grazing allotments where grizzlies have killed stock before. Several years ago, four grizzlies in the area were killed for depredating cattle. In 2009, a shepherd was mauled while checking on a ruckus in his flock during the middle of the night.

Wyoming Game and Fish biologists used a leg snare to catch No. 587 near where he killed a calf, Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke said. The bear was then tranquilized and fitted with a radio collar.

Wildlife managers consider each bear important given that the species is "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act.

"Release sites are selected to minimize the chance of future conflicts and maximize the survival potential of the relocated grizzlies," Gocke said in a statement. "When proposing a relocation site, the Department makes every consideration possible to minimize potential conflicts with livestock and people."

Public interest in grizzly trappings and relocations has increased following the fatal mauling of a botanist outside Yellowstone on June 17. Erwin Frank Evert, 70, was killed by a grizzly that had just been caught and tranquilized by researchers outside Cody.

In 2005 the Wyoming Legislature passed a law requiring Game and Fish to issue a notice when relocating grizzly bears.

Cain said there is no worry that the relocation would make the bear any more dangerous to people. Grand Teton accepted the bear because there were a number of factors that suggested the move would work out, Cain said.

"Some of the considerations were that it was not a human food-conditioned bear," Cain said.

Bears that have learned to associate food with humans are doomed, biologist warn, frequently citing the phrase "a fed bear is a dead bear." Such bruins will approach people without fear to try to secure meals, an unnatural condition that wildlife managers will not tolerate.

Also, Cain said, "The probability of it coming into contact with livestock is low." There is much less grazing in Grand Teton than there is on the Bridger-Teton National Forest where 587 got in trouble, and what does take place is markedly different and far less attractive to a grizzly.

The remaining cattle herd that grazes in Grand Teton does not include calves, tempting morsels for a grizzly bears, Cain said. That is "another significant factor in reducing the probability of grizzly bear predation," he said.

The herd is kept near a highway at Moran in a small, intensively managed area, all of which contributes to its protection from both bears and wolves, Cain said.

"The decision to relocate and the selection of a relocation site is made taking into consideration the age, sex, and type of conflict the bear was involved in," Gocke said in a statement.

Communication between agencies and even across state boundaries is key in managing the threatened species, Cain said.

"Our number-one priority is bear conservation, so we need to work together with all relocations - the need for coordination spans agency boundaries," he said. It would not be unusual for Grand Teton to contact Wyoming Game and Fish Department, or even the state of Idaho or Yellowstone National Park to find a suitable site for a grizzly that had a chance at rehabilitation, he said.

"It's an ecosystem-level coordination," Cain said.

Bear No. 587's sister, No. 615, was shot last year by a hunter who was convicted of killing a grizzly without a license despite claiming self defense. There is no hunting season or license for grizzly bears in Wyoming.

Editor's Note: For further information regarding relocation, click here...