Posted on 04/30/2008 7:22:37 PM PDT by marktwain
A Montana man was mauled and severely injured in a run-in with a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park's Hayden Valley Wednesday, park officials confirmed Wednesday evening.
The man, in his late 50s, was apparently taking photographs of a female grizzly and her cub along Trout Creek when he was attacked, park spokesman Al Nash said.
Despite “severe facial injuries,” he was able to walk two or three miles to the Grand Loop Road, where visitors found him and alerted rangers.
The man, whose name and hometown were not released pending notification of relatives, was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone and then by air to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.
“There are bears all over the place down there,” said Tom Murphy, a Livingston wildlife photographer who often works in the Hayden Valley.
He speculated that the man might have come across a bear guarding a carcass.
“It's a real active time of year for bears,” Nash said.
This is the first bear attack in the park this season, although there was one near the park in eastern Idaho this spring. In that case a man was mauled by a male grizzly that was guarding a carcass on the man's rural property. That bear was later killed by Idaho officials.
Nash said there are no plans at this time to take any measures against the bear.
He said he did not know if the man had been photographing the bear, or if he carried or used bear pepper spray.
“I don't know any of the details,” he said.
There have been eight bear-caused human injuries in the park since 2000. The last time a bear killed a person in the park was in 1986.
That man's name was Bill Tesinsky, an amateur photographer from Great Falls who died in the north end of the Hayden Valley. He was killed by a female grizzly he had been photographing.
Nash urged park visitors to stow all food in vehicles or bear-proof containers, hike in groups, make noise on trails, carry bear pepper spray and know how to use it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Where’d you find the reference to the handgun?
In Montana there is a story told by rangers:
park visitors are often sold pepper spray to deter grizzlies and bells to avoid startling them.
You can tell the type of bear in the vicinity by the feces: the feces of the smaller and MUCH aggressive black bear is about the size of a large dog mess and contains berry seeds and perhaps fish bones.
Grizzly feces is a bit larger in volume and contains pepper spray canisters and bells.
I made an error. I posted the article with the handgun after this one. Two grizzly bear attacks in a small Montana paper on the same day.
And all this time I thought Montana was a girl, something like Hannah? What do I know?!
Found the other one.
“A .41 magnum”
Not nearly enough fire-power-—Guides and DEC people here in Alaska generally use 12ga. 3” magnum pump-shotguns- more
likely to have a successful second shot than with a hand-gun.
His handgun stayed with him, and probably saved his life.
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