Tim Sheehy Falsely Claims There Are “More Bears Than People” in Montana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 20, 2023

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monica@mtdems.org

Transplant Tim Sheehy reveals he bear-ly knows anything about the state he’s running to represent 

Helena, MT – Transplant Tim Sheehy made one of the most embearassing mistakes in the books this week when he falsely claimed that there are “more bears than people” in Montana.

Daily Montanan reported that Sheehy’s estimate is off by about a million: An expert with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks says there are fewer “bears, deer, elk, combined than people.” And as FWP Bear Manager Jamie Jonkel said: “You could fit all the grizzlies in Montana in the city kid’s theater here in Missoula, if you wanted to.”

This false claim is more evidence that Sheehy, who moved to Montana recently, doesn’t understand our state or our way of life. Sheehy, who is a multimillionaire, moved to Montana and bought up luxury resort properties in some of the highest-priced places in Montana – from a private peninsula on Flathead Lake to a ski-in, ski-out resort in Big Sky valued at $7.7 million. Right after Sheehy announced his run for Senate, he prominently featured a photo from Kentucky on his campaign website – under a section titled “Montana Agriculture.”

Daily Montanan: Senate candidate Tim Sheehy falsely states more bears than people in Montana
By Nicole Girten
September 19, 2023

• Montana has more cows than people, but more bears? Not exactly.
   

• Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Sheehy said in a recent interview with Breitbart News there were more bears than people in Montana, which estimates don’t support, and by a long shot.
   

• Sheehy did not return a request for comment made through his campaign website by press time.
   

• According to U.S. Census data from 2022, there are more than 1.1 million people living in Montana, and Greg Lemon with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Tuesday the bear population isn’t that high in the state.
   

• “Fewer bears, deer, elk, combined than people,” Lemon told the Daily Montanan.
   

• FWP Bear Manager Jamie Jonkel said Montana is lucky it can hold a few more bears, and the estimate by the candidate was off.
   

• “Stretching that a little bit,” Jonkel said with a laugh.
   

• “You could fit all the grizzlies in Montana in the city kid’s theater here in Missoula, if you wanted to,” Jonkel said.
   

• He said it’s “far fetched” to imagine what the state would look like with more than one million bears. 
   

• September is Bear Aware Month in Montana, and FWP is hosting educational events as well as posting videos for people living in bear country to do so safely. 

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