Ethyl is essentially the ultimate grizzly globetrotter who clocked 5,000 miles across Montana and Idaho like she was training for the Bear Olympics or something. This Flathead Valley native wasn’t your average grizzly—after a few run-ins with human neighbors, she got relocated (twice) and then embarked on a two-year odyssey that has wildlife biologists scratching their heads and updating their GPS maps. Was she homesick? Just exploring? Only Ethyl knew.
Her trek flipped the script on what we thought we knew about grizzlies, proving even senior bears can surprise us. With her radio collar tracking her every move until 2014, Ethyl made it as far as Idaho’s Bitterroot-Selway region before deciding it wasn’t where she wanted to be and heading back to Montana. Did she ever make it home? We’ll never know—her collar dropped off, and she vanished.
Guess it’s time to make those GPS collars drop-proof.
Source info and photos via Cowboy State Daily
