Man killed by grizzly bear in Yellowstone
Deadly encounters with grizzly bears are rare, but it happened last week in Yellowstone National Park.
Here’s a disturbing report concerning a wildlife encounter of the wrong kind. In this one, an Illinois man was killed last week by a grizzly bear while at Yellowstone National Park. You can read about it here:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2010/06/grizzly-bear-kills-hiker-near-yellowstone.html
From reading the report, it sounds like the victim was an experienced outdoorsman, but was hiking alone. The report says that friends noted the victim was well aware of the risks of hiking in the area.
Bear-related deaths in that area are pretty rare, the report said. This was the area’s first fatal bear mauling in 25 years.
This comes at an interesting time. If you remember from an earlier post I made, I did a solo hike in the Wichitas last week and had a wildlife encounter of my own, with a startled buffalo. Luckily, that ended up as just a scare. You can read about it here:
http://blog.newsok.com/outthere/2010/06/17/oklahoma-hiking-solo-hike-to-sunset-peak-er-crab-eyes/
As careful as I was, I still stumbled upon the animal and scared it enough to where it made an aggressive move toward me before running off. Sometimes even the most careful, experienced people can have bad wildlife encounters, and those are made all the more serious when going solo. I was aware of those risks, but it’s always something to think about before heading off into the backcountry alone.
Bob Doucette
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Comments
I wish people would leave bears alone so they can enjoy living in peace and harmony with what little nature still exists in their ever shrinking world. This is tragic, for the hapless and blameless grizzly. These fools who go into bear territory unprepared with bear spray and/or common sense should expect to have negative encounters with these magnificent yet endearingly charismatic creatures. They should be required to sign a release so as not to cause death to a bear in case they are fatally mauled. Bears are very protective of their habitats and become aggressive from time to time. Humans should enter at their own risk, case closed.
My girlfriend and I are getting ready for a trip to Yellowstone in just a few weeks, where we’ll be hiking and camping in the backcountry. It’s a sobering reminder of what it means to be an outdoors lover–the risks and challenges one faces when getting out and about in the wild. All one can do is be prepared, train the body and mind, then react quickly and smartly. Sometimes, nature just reminds us that we are not alone in the food chain nor assured of a place at the top by virtue of opposable thumbs or our capacity to think and create.
I’ve had a shark brush my leg, a barracuda swim up on me unnoticed from behind, discovered that I and a few others were lying beneath a killer bee nest in Panama (training ambush while in the Army–we set in before first light). I’ve even discovered as my boot was descending that a poisonous snake was underfoot. Pushing off my trail leg ever-so-slightly put my front boot’s heel right on his head and I caught a break.
Another time, a buddy and I entered a cave–in a very narrow and short space we suddenly discovered we were blocking three coyotes intent on leaving said cave. We froze and they slunk past us just outside of arms reach, content to let us off lightly for our rude intrusion.
No matter how alert you are, there’s always risks when encountering wildlife that can harm you. Sometimes, all you have is a moment to make a decision and it may or may not be the one that allows you to survive another day. That’s because there’s another living creature making a decision as well and we cannot be say with foreknowledge what it will be. We can be smart, be fast, be armed–wild animals always are. Luck–now, that might favor either.
For those who accept that when adventuring off into the wilderness, it becomes part of the allure. For those who go off into the wilderness oblivious to or ill-prepared for the risks, it becomes a greatly increased threat to survival. The risks are high enough, no need to increase them ourselves.