10/04/2026
14 Bears 💔 Heartbreaking and such a terrible human error! Feeding any wildlife harms them in so many ways, including them being put down for human safety. Feeding wild animals is allowed in all states at petting zoos, local farms etc.
Please share and admire wildlife from a distance so they can continue living free and unharmed by our mistakes.
Fourteen black bears gathered around a single Montana property. By the time wildlife officials arrived, the damage had already been done.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks investigated the property north of Bozeman after receiving a report of alleged feeding.
What officers found was an extraordinary concentration of bears that had become heavily conditioned to human food.
The animals had grown comfortable around people and were no longer behaving like wild bears normally would.
Officials said they had become so dependent on human food that releasing them somewhere else would simply move the problem to another community.
Fourteen bears ultimately lost their lives.
One young cub was spared and taken to Montana WILD for rehabilitation. Officials are now exploring whether an accredited zoo may be able to give the cub a permanent home.
The investigation into what happened at the property is still ongoing, so officials have not yet announced any final findings about who was responsible.
But the consequences for the bears are already painfully clear.
Feeding a wild animal might seem like kindness in the moment. When that animal learns to associate people and homes with food, though, the price of that “kindness” can ultimately be paid by the animal itself.
