Date: May 23, 2007
Contact: Al Nash, 307-344-2010
Contact: Stacy Vallie, 307-344-2012
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2007 07-24
Al Nash or Stacy Vallie (307) 344-2010 or 344-2012
----------------------------------------------------
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
----------------------------------------------------
MAN INJURED BY BEAR IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
A Montana man was injured during an encounter with a bear Wednesday afternoon in Yellowstone National Park.
The man, in his late fifties, was taking photographs of bears along Trout Creek in Hayden Valley when he had an encounter with a grizzly.
After being injured, he hiked between two and three miles east to the Grand Loop Road where he was discovered by visitors about 1:00 p.m. Rangers and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene. The man suffered severe facial injuries. He told rangers he had been attacked by a sow bear with a cub.
The injured man was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone, Montana and then transferred to an Air Idaho helicopter and transported to Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls.
Black and grizzly bears, including sows with cubs, are active in the spring. Some areas may be temporarily closed due to bear activity. Visitors are encouraged to hike in groups, make noise, and carry canisters of bear pepper spray.
Visitors are also reminded to keep food, garbage, barbecue grills and other attractants stored in hard-sided vehicles or bear-proof food storage boxes. This helps keep bears from becoming conditioned to human foods, and helps keep park visitors and their property safe.
Bear sightings should be reported to the nearest visitor center or ranger station as soon as possible.
There were no bear-caused human injuries in Yellowstone National Park during 2006, and only eight minor injuries since 2000. The last bear-caused human fatality in the park occurred in 1986.
- www.nps.gov/yell -
