Bear attack E of Cooke City, MT.

[Andrew Merwin]

For those of you who are interested, here is an article about a bear attack with 1 death & 2 people injured in 3 separate camp sites. There will be updates to this incident as more info is learned.
Andrew

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_21d02556-9a58-11df-b1f3-001cc4c03286.html

[Fabs Forns]

What a nightmare! Thanks for sharing this, Andrew, we follow the area since we like to go there often.

[Alfred Forns]

Tragic incident Andrew Thanks for posting and will be keeping track That is a very popular camping area both in tents and cabins !!

[Jamie Strickland]

wow scary and very sad both for the families and for the bears :(

unfortunately they will kill another one now

[Andrew Merwin]

It is a tragedy indeed. I heard a quote by someone who was there: "This may change how we view bears." The attack seems gratuitous. I always sleep in a hard sided shell when I am in that area & camping.

I have concluded that there are frequent visits to YNP by forum members & subsequently assumed that this would be of interest.
Andrew

[Ed Cordes]

Terrible and scary news. You always think that if you follow the rules you will be OK. I guess the bear don't always read the rules.

[Michael Pancier]

My guess is that this bear must have been fed by humans or may have found food in a camp before. It seems that the folks here did keep all the food locked away, so perhaps the bear is going by instinct.

In fact Jack Hannah had a bear incident on a trail a few days ago as well at YNP, but fortunately he had the pepper spray and no one got hurt.

[Ed Cordes]

I never used to carry pepper spray. Now I always will. Gail and I will be in Red Wood NP in November this is now on our shopping list.

Question - can I buy it hear and then fly with it or do I have to buy it there and dispose of it if not used prior to flying home?

[Roger Clark]

I never used to carry pepper spray. Now I always will. Gail and I will be in Red Wood NP in November this is now on our shopping list.

Question - can I buy it hear and then fly with it or do I have to buy it there and dispose of it if not used prior to flying home?

Ed,
You can check with your specific airline, but I'm pretty sure all will not allow bear spray, even in checked luggage. This web site also says no:
http://www.udap.com/faq.htm#Q13

Roger

[Jim Michael]

You wouldn't want to risk that going off and finding its way into the aircraft's ventilation system. Start a tradition - give it to someone who didn't bring any.

[Andrew Merwin]

I agree that you need to buy the pepper spray @ your destination. Airlines prohibit it on flights.

Today's local news anchors said a grizzly sow with 3 year old cubs was most likely responsible for the attack. The sow & 2 cubs were captured & DNA tests are being done to confirm that the sow & her cubs are the ones responsible for the attack. The 3rd cub is still free & will probably be captured soon.
Andrew

[Andrew Merwin]

According to the local news, in an attempt to understand the very unusual behavior of this grizzly bear & her cubs, FWP officials are investigating allegations that a photographer was baiting this grizzly bear & her cubs near the NE entrance to YNP. Apparently, the photographer was warned a week before the attack that baiting bears was dangerous. If this is true, the warning was ignored. The bear was killed & the 3 cubs are now permanent residents of Zoo Montana in Billings.The plot thickens.
Andrew

[Jamie Strickland]

I sure hope that is not true or its yet another bad rep for photographers in YNP and will further add to the problems. If it is true I hope the idiot gets charged with something ! some people could really use their brains sometimes.

Its sad that yet another animal has to be killed (especially if turns out to be because of human stupidity again) but I am glad that at least they saved the cubs, although its sad they are in a zoo. Does anyone know if they release them into the wild again after? I suspect not if they are going to a zoo I imagine that is going to be quite difficult to return to the wild for a bear.

[Andrew Merwin]

The cubs will be life time zoo residents.

I just read another report that stated that FWP has identified the photographer & is attempting to set up a meeting to discuss the allegations.

[Michael Pancier]

I just read the article and it confirms my earlier suspicion that someone had been feeding these bears. So very sad that people have had to die because of the callousness of the guilty party. I'd expect a photographer to act more responsibly than a regular nose picker

[Andrew Merwin]

The necropsy on the sow was completed recently. The conclusion is that the sow was under weight, had intestinal parasites, was stressed, & was having trouble feeding her cubs. The experts are still confused about her human predation, but suspect that her overall condition had some bearing.
The following quotes sums up the conclusions:

"The reality is grizzly bears are predators," said Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who helped produce the report. "You never know when they're going to revert to a predatory response."

" Rumors have since floated around the community that a photographer had been baiting bears in the area with food. …Those rumors remain unsubstantiated, investigators said Monday. And there was no sign the attacking grizzzly had become habituated to humans, which is often to blame when bears have run-ins with people.
The necropsy suggested the bear had not eaten human food for at least the last two years. That conclusion was based on a carbon isotope analysis of hair, blood and serum from the bear that showed very low levels of types of carbon common in human and pet foods.
Bear specialist Kevin Frey with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the findings underscored that even though bears are omnivores — eating everything from pine nuts to ants to elk — they are still predators that can act as carnivores.
"She obviously was hurting for higher value foods. What caused her mentally to do that, we don't know," Frey said. "There are a lot of bears that are nutritionally challenged at times that don't exhibit that type of behavior."

Here is the entire article: http://billingsgazette.com/news/national/article_302b8ed7-208a-5ac6-b651-a1d22a378123.html

[Jamie Strickland]

thanks for reporting back on that Andrew, sounds like she may have just been desperate and who could blame the poor girl trying to feed her family