400-pound grizzly trapped and killed in Yellowstone after seeking food and flipping bear-resistant dumpsters

A 400-pound grizzly bear was trapped and killed by park staff in Yellowstone last week because it posed a risk to public safety in one of the Wyoming park's busiest areas, according to the National Park Service.

The bear, an 11-year-old male grizzly, overturned bear-resistant dumpsters — some weighing 800 pounds — and pulled trash cans from their concrete bases in search of human garbage. It was able to access food and trash near Old Faithful, as well as near the Nez Perce Picnic Area and the Midway Geyser Basin parking lot, park officials said.

"It's unfortunate that this bear began regularly seeking out garbage and was able to defeat the park's bear-resistant infrastructure," Kerry Gunther, Yellowstone bear management biologist, said. "We go to great lengths to protect bears and prevent them from becoming conditioned to human food. But occasionally, a bear outsmarts us or overcomes our defenses. When that happens, we sometimes have to remove the bear from the population to protect visitors and property."