COOKE CITY - One man is dead and two people are injured after at least one bear attacked campers early Wednesday morning just northeast of Yellowstone National Park, Montana wildlife officials said.
The bear or bears attacked the Soda Butte campground around 2 a.m., tearing through the dark, wooded campsites five miles north of the park, witnesses said.
The marauding bear or bears killed one man, bit another man on the calf and tore a woman's arm, leaving deep lacerations. The two surviving victims were taken to a hospital in Cody, Wyo.
"There were three separate attacks in three separate campsites, which is unusual," Ron Aasheim, spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said.
Wildlife officials said they could not confirm whether the attack was the work of one or multiple bears or what species of bear was involved.
"Right now, what we're doing more than anything is trying our best to get the bear or bears captured," Aasheim said Wednesday afternoon, adding that five traps had been set up around the campground, which is in the Gallatin National Forest.
Officials declined to release the names or ages of the victims, except to say that the dead man was middle age, and the injured man was in his 20s.
Paige and Don Wilhelm, of Fort Worth, Texas, said they were camping in a tent next to where the attacks occurred with their 12- and 9-year-old children.
Don got up to go to the bathroom just before 2 a.m., and he, Paige and their 12-year-old son were awake when they heard a woman scream at about 2 a.m. Their 9-year-old slept through the ordeal.
Paige Wilhelm said she heard "one bear and it was just attacking various tents."
The injured man, she said, punched a bear in the nose and scared it off after it bit him in the leg.
Hours later, officials from the Park County Sheriff's Office and FWP were still trying to piece together what had happened in the 10-acre campground before dawn.
The man and the woman who were injured were staying at separate campsites, but the campsites were close to one another, Jones said.
The man who was killed was staying alone at a campsite further away, although she would not say whether he was found there or elsewhere.
And it's still unknown whether the man was killed before or after the other two campers were attacked, FWP Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard said.
"Probably, we'll never know," he said.
There is no cell phone service in that area, so campers who heard the attacks walked up the road to Cooke City to alert authorities. After Park County Sherriff's deputies arrived, campers were advised to stay in their cars or RVs until the area was deemed safe enough to evacuate them, Jones said.
The injured woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital, the man by private vehicle.
The campers were escorted back into the campground later in the day to collect their belongings. The campground, which has 27 sites and is run by the U.S. Forest Service, was then closed to the public.
Food was not a cause of Wednesday's attacks, Jones said.
"The investigation has determined that there was no food or food-storage issue involved with this," she said.
She also said there had been no recent reports of problem bears in the area.
In 2008, a grizzly bear bit a man on the hand at the Soda Butte campground. Sheppard said, "We dealt with that situation in 2008 and got the bear."
A response team that includes FWP officials and bear experts was collecting bear scat, hair and other evidence late Wednesday in an attempt to figure out what kind of bear and how many were involved.
Campgrounds at Colter and Chief Joseph were also closed due to the incident.
Amanda Ricker can be reached at aricker@dailychronicle.com or 582-2628.
techman posted at 9:26 am on Sat, Jul 31, 2010.
Wow... When a person goes into the backcountry, bears are a risk. If I get mauled by a bear, at least I went out doing something I liked to do. We don't need more rules and regulations or more government "protection" from predators.
If a person gets hit by a car in town and dies, we don't go around trying to ban people from crossing the street, we know it's a risk we take walking around town... Why should the rules in and around a national park be any different?
WrongWay posted at 8:51 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
What if you grab a sleeping bag and hold it over the animals head long enough for it to lose consciousness. Two heavier/thicker shirts will work in a pinch. Everybody is happy, the bear lives, you have time to escape...and nobody gets hurt.
bdb posted at 8:07 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
Richconn... you're obviously not from around here. Nobody is going tor raise an eyebrow at some grizzly tracks you saw in Yellowstone. I was down in the park for a mere 8 hrs a couple of weeks ago and saw 7 grizzlies and 4 black bears. They're everywhere in and around the park. It's your responsibility to know that. I also stayed at the Soda Butte campground where this attack occurred and it is well stocked with bear proof garbage bins, bear proof food storage boxes, and plenty of signs warning of bears. What more do you want?
Basil posted at 7:52 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
A .44 mag or any big handgun is not something that will reliably stop a griz at any kind of distance. More like, on your back with the barrel under his chin. At least that way the feds don't try to persecute you for shooting it. Of course, we are talking about attacks on people in tents, in extremis, and that is not some place I would want to use pepper spray. People do manage to kill griz with a handgun. It is not uncommon in Montana. there was a case in the Tom Miner basin a few years ago. A quick search turned up this discussion on a forum:
"...Then there have been camp attacks, tearing into tents and such. On one occasion there had never been any food in or near the tent so the only thing that could have smelled like food was me when the bear ripped through. I would have shot him but couldn't see what/who was outside, which is a problem with tent defense generally. As it turned out, punching him in the nose and yelling worked well enough. Other opportunistic blackies and at least one griz have been driven off with the fireball and shockwave from a .44 at night. That is one application where flash-suppressed powder is not as useful as a casing stuffed with good ol 296. Probably due to a little skill and a lot of luck, I've never been overrun by a pissed off bear.
So while a handgun is certainly not the most capable, often it is enough. I have known handguns to be quite effective on some fairly large bears when hazing proved inadequate. In the public domain, a few years ago a MT FWP employee killed a large, sow griz with a .357 when they botched a release from a culvert trap and she jumped him. Amazing video. His opinion afterward was that he wouldn't have been able to shoot a .44 fast enough and that a .357 is the best gun for bear defense. Not all would agree, but he definitely has some street cred. "
fenske_art posted at 4:17 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
A 44 Mag. against a Grizzly? You are funny.
Be sure to file down that front sight.
That way it won't hurt nearly as much when an enraged Grizzly shoves it up your bunghole.
kawasakikid posted at 2:46 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
I have never gone camping before with packing some kind of gun, either a pistol or 12 gauge with '000' buck or slugs. I want to make sure my family is safe from animals, but also from the maniacs like 'wrongway'!
kawasakikid posted at 2:41 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
Wrongway....seriously?!?!
WrongWay posted at 12:15 pm on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
Stop saying "we humans are in their turf so what do we expect?" Everywhere on earth was at one time or another covered by animals. I say shoot first ask questions later.
Fishcamp posted at 11:48 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
Bear sightings? Really? In Yellowstone?
People need to be responsible for their own actions and for every do-gooder to tell everybody else how to live is wrong (no tent camping, adapt to their habitat). False sense of security in a tent? NOBODY who tent camps would think of a tent as "secure", its a shelter. Anybody camping in bear country knows the risk involved and it is wrong to force people to buy a harsided camper to stay in certain campgrounds. How many people tent camped before this happened? Give it a rest, this is what occasionally happens in bear country. BTW this happens to be human habitat as well and if you want to see how humans adapt, go to New York!
Basil posted at 11:08 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
It is just amazing that no one was armed with a gun. They should have been. When a bear attacks in this manner, it is pure aggression usually associated with wanting to eat you. No word yet apparently as to whether the man was eaten. I always have a firearm close at hand when camping, either a .44 magnum or a short 12 gauge shotgun, or both. Under Montana law, your campsite is your home, and if a bear invades my home and attacks me, I will kill it.
animalsforever posted at 9:05 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
This is sad but all camp grounds etc where bears can be present should be hard sided only no tents to avoid this. The forest if there home, we're only visitors.
pete posted at 8:32 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
Un-armed camper killed by predator bears.
The need for expanded hunting and allowing effective self defense is again evident.
Animal rights people should go around unarmed, as it is their wish.
Fordman1 posted at 8:14 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
It's a report of what nature and bears do. Campers are in their back yard now, so it' s up to humans to adapt. This was quite avoidable, as the campers were in tents. My advice is to get out of those tents with their false sense of security, and get in to a trailer like an Aliner or Chalet. What is your life worth?
richconn posted at 7:16 am on Thu, Jul 29, 2010.
The article never really states who this "Jones" person is but she is quoted saying "there had been no recent reports of problem bears in the area". Now, there may not have been "problem" bears in the area but there were bears reported. But back on Thurs the 15th there was a confirmed report/sighting of 3 grizzlies near the confluence of the Lamar and Soda Butte. Also, friends and I spotted fresh tracks on Monday the 12th along the Soda Butte and as requested in the park's brochure we reported it to the Ranger at the West entrance on our way out.....response was "well that is bear country". So the question is were people in the area and campground warned of the bear sightings?