Scarface, Yellowstone's Most Famous Bear, Illegally Shot Dead [View all]

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Scarface is dead. Not the ruthless drug kingpin of pop culture fame, but the beloved grizzly of Yellowstone, who was a favorite among parkgoers. The aged bruin—he was 25 years old—was illegally shot by a hunter just outside the park boundary near Gardiner, Montana late last year. Grizzly bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are off limits to hunting.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks confirmed recently in a release that the dead bear was indeed Bear No. 211, as he was known by researchers and park officials. No. 211 was famous among tourists and photographers, who gave him his nickname because of the gnarly scars and floppy right ear he had accrued over his decades of scraps with other male grizzlies over mates and elk carcasses.

His life was also heavily documented by park officials who captured and collared him repeatedly 17 times throughout the years. At his peak, he tipped the scale at a hulking 600 pounds, but had slimmed to about half that in recent times, weighing 338 pounds in 2015. The Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks department attributes this to his advanced age, noting that only 5 percent of male bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem survive to age 25.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials have already started an investigation to find out who Scarface's killer is. Grizzly bears are listed as "threatened" under the ESA. The punishment for killing a threatened species is stiff—up to a $25,000 fine and six months in prison. Killing an animal listed as "endangered" is even worse,, with perpetrators facing a $50,000 fine and a year in prison.
More: http://www.popsci.com/scarface-yellowstones-most-famous-bear-is-shot-dead

Any dentists been to Yellowstone lately?