Sylvia, Yellowstone's Tamest Grizzly Bear

In 1961, Yogi Bear was spun off from Huckleberry Hound and got his own cartoon show. Yogi lived in the fictional Jellystone Park and craved pic-a-nic baskets. He seemed pretty harmless.

Also in 1961, at the very real Yellowstone National Park, people flocked to see grizzly bears in their natural habitat. Some would approach grizzlies, or even try to touch one out of a car window. Grizzlies were getting used to humans, and flocked to campgrounds to steal food. Even worse, the park had pits to dump garbage into, which drew grizzlies, and in turn drew tourists who wanted to take pictures. The most popular bear that year was Sylvia, a 225-pound mother with three cubs. She would allow visitors to get within 25 feet to take pictures. In addition to Yogi, Sylvia was a reason people thought they could get close to a grizzly. 

Meanwhile, brothers John and Frank Craighead were at Yellowstone studying whether humans and grizzlies could co-exist in the park. From their 12 years of research, we get the story of Sylvia, the tamest grizzly at Yellowstone, and what happened to her. -via Strange Company 

(Image credit: National Park Service


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Sounds like they saved Sylvia's life, and that particular cub would have been a very poor fit for a zoo. Quick search reveals "Grizzly cubs face high mortality rates, with about 45% of first-year cubs and 40% of yearlings (ages one to four) dying" so his odds of survival even with his mother around could have been just as bad, or perhaps worse. The wilderness is a rough place, and making it a year on his own suggests he did reasonably well for himself.
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And yet another reason why animals would be better off without humans.
Humans looking to make a name for themselves in the hallowed halls of research along with Yellowstone park officials resulted in Sylvia a gentle Mom bear being separated from her 3 cubs. 
One CUB was deliberately separated from his Mom so humans could see if cubs can survive on their own (they do NOT) & the research didn't even bother noting what happened to the other 2 Cubs.
Typical people. Only Human lives matter *$#@
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