Shortly after the controversy got rolling, someone created a petition asking Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk to “not kill Blaze, the Yellowstone grizzly sow and her infant cubs.” The petition was closed after the announcement that the bear was killed but not before it gathered 143,170 signatures.

“Just think if everyone who signed that donated $25 for habitat conservation,” Gunther said. “Bears would be a lot better off. I wish we could find a way to funnel that hatred and passion into conservation.”

It also overwhelmed the park’s media office. Aware that the case was going viral, the investigators tried to publish results of their efforts as soon as they got them. But other commentators kept adding different scenarios that conflicted with what the rangers had on record.

“There are no good answers to that,” said Sandy Snell-Dobert in Yellowstone’s Office of Strategic Communication. “With all the ongoing discussion going about this, you’ll see us much more trying to be proactive and trying to get ahead of things. But just trying to monitor everything that’s out there is more than a full-time job.”