Yellowstone National Park staff killed an adult female black bear on July 11 after it climbed a pole and ate human food.

The park explained in a release Thursday that campers are required to store their food in bear-resistant boxes or up on storage poles to keep the animals from eating it. Bears that get used to human food can become aggressive against people to get more provisions.

Yellowstone rangers noticed the bear on June 7 after it crushed an unoccupied tent at a campsite in the northern part of the park, which sits on land in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. 

The bear returned to the campsite on July 11 and climbed a storage pole, tearing into food bags. Since the bear’s behavior escalated, Yellowstone staffers decided to kill it. They did not mention any injuries to the campers using the site.

“We go to great lengths to protect bears and prevent them from gaining access to human food. … Occasionally, a bear outsmarts us or overcomes our defenses. When that happens, we sometimes have to make the difficult decision to remove the bear from the population to protect people and property,” Yellowstone bear management biologist Kerry Gunther said.

The culling marks the first time Yellowstone staff had to kill a bear since 2020, when another black bear injured people and ate food at another campsite in the national park.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.