CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A famous grizzly bear beloved by countless tourists, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton National Park for decades is dead after being struck by a vehicle in western Wyoming.

Grizzly No. 399 died Tuesday evening on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, park officials said in a statement Wednesday, adding that the driver was uninjured. A yearling cub was with the grizzly when it was struck and while it was not believed to be injured, its whereabouts were unknown, according to the statement.

The circumstances of the crash were unclear. Grand Teton and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they could not release any further information about it.

At age 28, No. 399 was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Every spring, wildlife enthusiasts eagerly awaited her emergence from her den to see how many cubs she had delivered over the winter, quickly sharing the news online.

Named after the identification tag that researchers stuck to her ear, the grizzly amazed onlookers by reproducing into old age. Unlike many grizzlies, she was often spotted along roads in Grand Teton, drawing crowds and traffic jams.

Scientists speculate that such behavior keeps male grizzly bears at bay so that they would not pose a threat to her cubs. Some believe that male grizzly bears kill cubs to put the mother into heat.

The bear has had 18 cubs in eight litters over the years, including a litter of four in 2020. She was about 7 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds.

Hundreds of visitors sometimes gathered in a vast meadow to see her at night, recalled Grand Teton bear biologist Justin Schwabedissen.

Some young people “just thought it was the coolest thing in the world to see a bear there while cubs wrestled in the wildflowers,” Schwabedissen said.

Another time, he met a recently retired factory worker from the Midwest whose dream was to see a bear in the wild.

“She was in tears that night because she got the chance to see her,” Schwabedissen said.

News of the bear’s death spread quickly on a Facebook page that tracks grizzly bears and other wildlife in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Late Wednesday, more than 2,000 people posted comments calling the bear a “beautiful queen,” an “icon” and an “incredible ambassador for her species.”

They were heartbroken and devastated by her death, calling it a tragic loss.

The mother bear had fans around the world, said guides Jack and Gina Bayles, who run Team 399’s Facebook page and planned to visit the site where she was killed.

“You could say she was the accidental ambassador of the species,” said Jack Bayles. “My biggest concern is that people will now lose interest in bears.”

The grizzly was going through a time of struggle over its species in the region as government officials tried to gain control of the grizzlies from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the bear numbers have rebounded past the point of danger.

Conservation groups have objected, saying climate change is endangering some of the bears’ main food sources, including pine cones.

About 50,000 grizzly bears once roamed the western United States. But outside of Alaska, they are now limited to areas in the Yellowstone region and the northern Rockies. In the Yellowstone region, they had dwindled to just over 100 animals by 1975, when they were first protected as an endangered species.

The region that includes Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and surrounding areas in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho is now home to about 1,000 grizzly bears. They remain federally protected, but in an ongoing tug-of-war between political and judicial decisions, they have bounced back and forth on the endangered list twice in recent years.

Government biologists say the population is healthy and officials from the three Yellowstone states continue to seek removal from federal protection.

On average, about three grizzly bears are killed in vehicle collisions in the region each year, including 51 since 2009, according to data collected by researchers and released by the park. No. 399 was the second grizzly killed by a vehicle in the region this year.

“Wildlife collisions and conflicts are unfortunate. We are grateful the driver is doing well and understand the community is saddened to hear of the death of grizzly bear 399,” Angi Bruce, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said in the statement.

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Amy Beth Hanson of Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.