A bear cub believed to be the latest offspring of Grizzly 399, one of the best-known bears in the US, has been hit by a car and killed in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, a park spokesman said on Monday.
The blond-faced cub was killed at about 10pm on Sunday night near Pilgrim Creek Road at the national park, the spokesman said.
The driver of the vehicle did not report the incident involving the 22.5kg cub to the park’s dispatch centre, the spokesman said.
Witnesses said Grizzly 399 frantically tried to attend to her injured offspring, the National Geographic reported.
Park officials are fairly certain the cub belonged to Grizzly 399, but were waiting for DNA results to confirm the relationship.
Grizzly 399 is 20-years-old and is known for being particularly fertile, often giving birth to triplets.
She is responsible for 16 descendants, but more than half have died through encounters with humans, according to the National Geographic.
Adored
The bear’s latest cub, known as Snowy by the bear watchers of Grand Teton, was adored for its antics and distinctive white face, the group said.
Grizzly 399 - named for the number given to her by researchers who track her by a radio collar - rose to fame in 2006, according to the National Geographic, when she was first spotted by the roadside.
Grizzly bears are listed as a threatened species in the US, but there are proposals to delist them in some areas of the country where their populations have rebounded.
Reuters