Grizzly Bear Deaths Hit Record Numbers For Second Year In A Row

Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have faced a record number of deaths in 2025, with 73 recorded deaths to date, according to Humane World for Animals. This matches the official count for 2024, which saw the highest number of grizzly bear deaths since 2015. Despite this, some members of Congress are pushing to remove federal protections for grizzlies.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., introduced the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025 that would remove federal grizzly protections for Yellowstone ecosystem bears “without regard to any other provision of law.” The bill passed out of a House committee.

Of the 73 grizzly bear deaths this year, only six were due to natural causes. Twenty-one were due to perceived conflicts with livestock growers. Eighteen bears were killed after being attracted to human-dominated areas by things like garbage and hobby farm animals. Fourteen deaths are “under investigation”—some of which may be poaching cases.

While most conflicts with bears can be easily mitigated using non-lethal deterrents, the USGS’s data show 88 percent of grizzly bears die because of human-related causes.

The slow reproductive rate of grizzly bears makes them highly vulnerable to extinction. A female takes about 10 years to replace herself in the population. In the West, grizzly populations remain small and isolated, reducing genetic diversity and increasing susceptibility to disease, drought and wildfires.

“When record numbers of grizzly bears die, it can be incredibly difficult for that population to bounce back,” said Wendy Keefover, senior principal of wild carnivore protection at Humane World for Animals. “The Yellowstone population is not growing because of years of high death counts and a lack of connectivity to other populations. Delisting would result in trophy hunting, exacerbating Yellowstone grizzly bears’ struggle to survive. Given the dangers grizzly bears are facing, now is not the time to take away their federal protections—they need them now more than ever.”

Both national and international visitors travel to see grizzlies at national parks. A 2025 U.S. government study found that grizzly bear sightings at Yellowstone generate nearly $7 million annually. This far exceeds the minimal revenue from selling trophy-hunting tags, which states plan to do if the bears are delisted.

U.S. public opinion strongly favors keeping grizzly bears protected. A nationwide survey conducted in January 2025 showed overwhelming support—including among rural residents of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, as well as conservatives, hunters, ranchers and farmers—for continued federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. The survey also found that most Americans reject trophy hunting, with 76 percent of voters opposing the killing of grizzlies for sport.

“Grizzly bears are one of the country’s most iconic species, and the Endangered Species Act is critical not just to their recovery, but to their survival as a species," said Bradley Williams, Sierra Club’s deputy legislative director for wildlife and lands protection. "We should be investing more resources into this critical law so it can achieve its full potential…If [Hageman's] bill becomes law, the effects on grizzlies and other imperiled species could be devastating and irreversible.”