Sounds like a sow with cubs attacked and killed a hiker.

Grizzly Bear Kills Hiker in Yellowstone National Park
ABC News ^ | 7-6-11

Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 7:42:43 PM by SJackson

A husband and wife's backcountry hike along a popular trail turned tragic when they stumbled upon a grizzly bear and her cubs and the 57-year-old man was mauled to death, Yellowstone National Park officials said.

The couple was hiking along the Wapiti Lake Trail in the Grand Canyon area of the park, park officials told ABC News. They had walked about a mile and a half from the trail head when they saw the grizzly sow and her cubs.

"The bear attacked the man and killed him," said Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash.

The woman screamed out for help as the bear was attacking her husband. Nearby hikers heard the pleas and dialed 911. By the time park rangers arrived, the man was dead.

"The initial indication is the sow grizzly was protecting her cubs," Nash said. "The investigation, as it unfolds, will help us determine if that, indeed, was the case."


(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...

wonder if they were packing pepper spray?

Report I read said no bear spray. I'm sorry this had to happen, BUT, when are people going to learn wild animals are, in fact, WILD?

Surprise , animals still have maternal instinct ! Something that can't be said about many humans.

Way too many grizzly in Montana. Time to start a controlled hunt . We would of had a hunt in place by now if that judge in Missoula did not put them back on the list 2 yrs ago and also I hear that the main bear biologist in region 2 of Montana has more than half of his funding comes from the defenders of wildlife..you think his reports are a little bias??..Too bad for that guys family....

Another report

Park rangers: Bear in mauling only protecting cubs
560WIND ^ | July 07, 2011

Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 5:52:46 PM by SJackson

A grizzly bear that mauled a 57-year-old hiker to death in Yellowstone National Park was only defending its cubs and had not threatened humans before. So park officials on Thursday decided to leave it alone to wander the backcountry.

The mauling _ the park's first in 25 years _ temporarily closed one of Yellowstone's top attractions on one of the busiest days of the year, leaving some tourists to wonder what was going on.

"It was not predatory and so we see no reason to take action against the bear," said Kerry Gunther, bear management biologist for Yellowstone.

The attack also highlighted the potential dangers, however rare, that face tourists who come in record numbers each year to a park known for its burgeoning bear population and the Old Faithful geyser.

Whenever there is a run-in or attack involving bears, park officials must decide whether the attack was defensive or an act of aggression. In Wednesday's mauling, they based their conclusion on the account of the hiker's wife, who survived, as well as their knowledge of bear behavior.

Brian and Marylyn Matayoshi, of Torrance, Calif., were hiking in a backcountry meadow along a trail a mile and a half from the trailhead when they spotted the bear foraging about 100 yards away. The couple immediately turned and began walking away, officials said.

The grizzly charged and attacked Brian Matayoshi, then went for his wife, who ran for cover behind a tree. The grizzly lifted her off the ground by the day pack she was wearing and then dropped her.

She tried to call 911 on her cell phone, but couldn't get a signal. Other hikers in the area responded to her cries for help and managed to get through to emergency officials.

Marylyn Matayoshi told rescuers that the couple surprised the sow, its cubs nearby _ one of the most dangerous situations possible for humans encountering grizzlies. Park officials believe the grizzly had two six-month-old cubs, based on previous sightings in the area and cub tracks where the attack occurred.

"All indications are that this was a defensive attack," park spokesman Al Nash said. "In such cases, the park's policy is to leave the bear in the backcountry."

The bear had never been documented before, never been tagged, and there was no reason to believe it had interacted with humans before, Nash said. They said the way the attack happened indicated the bear didn't intend to eat the couple.

Marylyn Matayoshi escaped injury and was no longer at the park, and officials declined to reveal her whereabouts.

In Torrance, neighbor Kathy Hester said Matayoshi and his wife kept their house immaculate and recently had put in a new lawn. "They are the sweetest people you'd ever want to meet," Hester said.

Park officials called the mauling a "1-in-3-million" encounter.

While many visitors Thursday morning were unaware of the attack, many seemed to know about it by the afternoon. Desk clerks at hotels inside the park told new arrivals that there had been a bear mauling. Worried relatives called or texted other visitors.

Some were surprised that rangers didn't let them know when they entered the park that there had been an attack and that some trails were closed.

"They didn't say one word about it at the gate," said Leslie Finch, visiting with her husband and two children for two days from Missoula, Mont. "I would have thought they'd say this area is closed. But they didn't say anything."

Park officials said the attack shouldn't condition the sow to attack again. They also collected DNA samples from fur at the attack site, so they can determine if the bear is involved in another attack, Gunther said.

"We don't believe that this defensive action by the bear would make any future action more probable," park superintendent Dan Wenk said.

Decades of research has established that grizzlies, while dangerous, rarely get aggressive with people except under very predictable circumstances, said Mark Bruscino, a Wyoming state bear biologist who has investigated some 40 attacks.

Grizzlies become aggressive when they are harassed, taken by surprise up close, are defending a food source or are defending their cubs, Bruscino said.

"You can almost explain every incident that occurs with a grizzly bear around those four," he said.

Bruscino declined to weigh in on the decision not to track and kill the Yellowstone bear.

A bear that fatally attacked a man and seriously injured two people at a campground east of Yellowstone last July was killed in part because the circumstances didn't neatly fit into predictable bear behavior, he said.

Hunger and internal parasites afflicted that grizzly, but investigators said they could not explain its late-night rampage through the crowded campground near Cooke City, Mont. That grizzly was captured and euthanized. Its three cubs are now in a Billings, Mont., zoo.

Wednesday's mauling was the park's first fatal grizzly attack since 1986, but the third in the region in just over a year amid ever-growing numbers of grizzlies and tourists roaming the same wild landscape. In June 2010, a grizzly just released after being tranquilized for study killed an Illinois hiker outside the park.

Grizzlies are an omnivorous species with a diet of berries, elk, fish, moths, ants and even pine nuts. Officials routinely urge visitors to take precautions: Stay on designated trails, carry bear spray, hike in groups of three or more, and make noise in places where a grizzly could be lurking.

The decision not to track and kill the Yellowstone bear isn't unprecedented. In nearby Grand Teton National Park, officials decided not to intervene with a grizzly that wounded a man in 2007. Rangers determined that female also was defending its cubs and didn't pose a general threat to humans.

"This is bear country," said Elizabeth Hoffman, a tourist from California who agreed with park officials' decision. "It's got babies. If someone came after a human mother, I don't think that we'd take her from her children."



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Doesn't sound like the people were after the cubs they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I would bet they were closer than 100 yards because at that distance I wouldn't think the sow would consider them a threat if they eased out of there since bears don't have great eyesight. My guess, and it's only that, is that they figured they could get some good pictures of a mama and her small cubs and closed in enough to trigger the bear into the attack mode. These tourists that go out there are always going right up to the bison, elk, etc. to get pictures of the "cute" animals and it's a wonder a lot more don't get killed with the stupid stuff they pull. Look at that one bunch that went over the barriers right up close to Old Faithful and would have been toast when it blew if they hadn't been run back to where they should have stayed!!!

I went thru Yellowstone's east entrance in mid June and saw people getting way too close to a moose, IMO.

Same day I saw people lining the road to get a look at a grizzly that was at least a thousand yards off. Just a brown dot. That puzzled me even more, unless you have some serious optics, what the heck is the point?

Sorry for the hiker's in this case, and I tend to think that they might have been closer, but, if the wind and the terrain was just wrong, a mama bear might go a hundred yards to defend cubs.

The spruce beetle has completely destroyed huge amounts of spruce forest in the park, and this has changed the dynamic for hikers and wildlife for sure.

Yes I have seen people do some stuip things around animals wilded and domistic.

I was told long ago be carefull around bulls, stud horses, bears, lions, wolves and things ect.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Yes I have seen people do some stuip things around animals wilded and domistic.

I was told long ago be carefull around bulls, stud horses, bears, lions, wolves and things ect.

My Grandfather was a farmer and the only thing I can remember him saying more than once is "Never trust a bull or a pig larger than the Dog" (the Dog was a mixed mostly shepherd mutt), Because he probably said it every time I ever saw him before he moved to Tennessee when I was nine.

Black bears were kinda rare in The northwest corner of New Jersey in 1969, probably because
most people would shoot them on site and say nothing about it...

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