Officials say encounter was defensive; bear 399 is not a suspect ‘at this time.’
- By Billy ArnoldEnvironmental Reporter
- May 22, 2024 Updated 21 hrs ago
- https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/grand-teton-will-take-no-action-against-grizzly-that-attacked-visitor/article_dab34076-17c1-11ef-99b4-fff9f93b1ec1.html
- 4 min to read
Grand Teton National Park will take no action against a grizzly bear that attacked a visitor, officials say.
“We are not considering any management actions,” Chief of Staff Jeremy Barnum said. “It’s pretty clear in talking to the person who was injured and based on the site investigation that this was a surprise encounter and that the bear, likely a sow, responded defensively because she had at least one cub.”
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Grizzly attacks in Grand Teton
According to Grand Teton National Park records, there have been only seven bear attacks in the park or the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway since the park was founded in 1929.
August 1994 — Michael Dunn is attacked while jogging near Two Ocean Lake.
September 1997 — An unnamed visitor is attacked while hunting in the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.
March 2001 — Jim Olsen is attacked while skiing near Berry Creek.
April 2001 — Ken Bates is attacked while he is fishing in the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.
October 2001 — Conrad James Smith is attacked while hunting at School House Hill near Moran.
June 2007 — Dennis VanDenbos is attacked by Grizzly 399 while hiking the Wagon Road near Jackson Lake Lodge.
October 2011 — Timothy Hix is attacked while hunting the Snake River bottom near Blacktail Ponds Overlook.
May 2024 — An unnamed visitor is attacked near Signal Mountain Lodge. The circumstances remain uncertain.
Teton park rangers and Teton County Search and Rescue responded to the Sunday grizzly bear attack near Signal Mountain, the first grizzly attack in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem this year.
From 2012 to 2022, grizzlies have typically attacked an average of five people a year in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. But attacks in Grand Teton are rare, and the Sunday incident is the first reported in the park since 2011, when a grizzly injured a hunter participating the park’s fall elk hunt. At that time there had only been six bear attacks in Grand Teton’s history, none of them fatal, per park records.
By that account, the attack Sunday is the seventh since Teton park was founded in 1929.
The fact that park rangers have determined the bear acted “defensively” is also significant.
When it comes to bear attacks, biologists view attacks in self-defense differently than even rarer acts of predation. Grizzly or black bears that pursue or stalk humans are often killed. But bears that swipe or maul a human that surprises them are often spared that fate. That sort of response is typically deemed natural.
On Sunday the Massachusetts man was hiking through a forested area, carrying bear spray and intentionally making noise based on bear safety information Teton park had posted. When he saw a smaller bear in close proximity running away, he reached for his bear spray and was simultaneously charged by a larger bear, according to a park report on the incident provided to the News&Guide.
The victim was able to remove his bear spray from his holster but didn’t have time to let it loose because of how quickly the larger bear approached.
When the bear hit him, the man dropped, fell to the ground on his stomach and played dead, “interlacing his fingers behind his neck with the bear spray canister caught in one of his fingers,” the report says.
The bear hit the man several times and ultimately punctured the bear spray can. After that, the bears left.
The man was able to move to an area with cell coverage and call for help around 4 p.m. Sunday.
Rangers located the victim and provided emergency care. The Search and Rescue chopper airlifted him from the Signal Mountain area to a landing zone near the Potholes Turnout. From there he was transferred to an ambulance and driven to St. John’s Health.
He was discharged Monday and is expected to make a full recovery.
The News&Guide’s efforts to reach the victim were unsuccessful by press time. Officials did not release his name, citing privacy concerns.
Grand Teton biologists and law enforcement rangers investigated the incident Monday and Tuesday, and were able to talk with the victim for a second time Tuesday. After that conversation, they were able to adjust their characterization of the responsible bears from “two grizzly bears” to a sow and “at least one older cub.”
While the description of the bears involved matches the description of Grizzly 399 and the one, yearling cub she’s raising this year, Barnum said the park does not believe 399 was involved in the attack “at this time.”
“We can’t even say with 100% certainty it was a sow and a cub,” Barnum said. “We can’t rule out that it’s a mating pair or something else. We’re moving to a likely assumption without confirmation.”
The park does not know what bears were involved and may never know for certain.
Tom Mangelsen, a wildlife photographer who has documented 399 for the last decade, said 399 has been frequenting the northern part of Teton park. On Thursday, 399 and her young cub were seen at Moose Island near Leeks Marina, then showed up at Colter Bay on Friday as she ventured out to Hermitage Point.
After that, 399 wasn’t seen until Tuesday morning, when she emerged near the sewer ponds south of Colter Bay, heading north, traveling in a way indicating she came from Hermitage Point, not Signal Mountain. Hermitage Point and Signal Mountain are only 3.5 miles apart as the crow flies — close enough for a grizzly to make the trek in day. But Mangelsen and others have studied 399’s behavior for years. He doesn’t think making a trek from Hermitage point to Signal would have made any sense.
“It’s just really not her normal behavior. I’m pretty sure she isn’t the one that attacked the guy,” Mangelsen said. “It’s possible that she’s done it, but it doesn’t make sense.”
As the first reported grizzly bear attack in the Greater Yellowstone, the Sunday encounter follows a slew of high-profile incidents in 2023, including a grizzly attack that left a woman dead in West Yellowstone and a separate attack near Dubois where the victim survived. But bear biologists say attacks remain rare.
More attacks have occurred as grizzly range expands outside the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. However, because more grizzlies are now occupying more densely populated, or more heavily visited areas like Grand Teton National Park, researchers say attacks are down on a per capita basis. They attribute that to better education about methods to prevent bear attacks, such as avoiding hiking and running alone, making noise in the woods and avoiding moving through forested areas at dusk.
As bears have been emerging from dens, Grand Teton officials have been urging visitors to use caution. Park regulations require visitors to give bears and wolves 100 yards of space, including with their vehicles. There are wildlife closures in place to protect high-quality bear habitat, elk calving areas and carcasses on the landscape, as well as no-stopping zones in areas where bears frequently cross the road.
Closures are intended to give wildlife space, and biologists have asked that people respect them to stay safe. At the time of the attack, the Signal Mountain Road was closed to vehicles, as it always is this time of year. There were not, however, any wildlife-related closures in the area. It was legal to walk the road by foot.
Prevent human-bear conflicts
To prevent human-bear conflicts Grand Teton National Park asks visitors to do the following:
- Never leave food unattended unless it is properly secured.
- Keep a clean camp and adhere to all food storage orders. Store all attractants, including coolers, cooking gear, pet food and toiletries, inside a bear-resistant food locker (i.e., bear box) or a hard-sided vehicle with the windows rolled up.
- Properly store garbage until you can deposit it into a bear-resistant dumpster.
- Do not eat or cook in your tent, and never keep food or other scented items in your tent.
- Respect all wildlife closure areas.
- If you see a bear, give it space. Always stay at least 100 yards away. If you choose to watch or photograph the bear, use a spotting scope, binoculars or a telephoto lens. Park in designated areas, and never block travel lanes. Follow the directions of staff in places where bears are sighted.
While exploring the backcountry, visitors must:
- Be alert and aware of surroundings.
- Make noise, especially in areas with limited visibility or when sound is muffled (e.g., near streams or when it is windy).
- Carry bear spray, know how to use it, and keep it readily accessible.
- Hike in groups of three or more people.
- Do not run. Back away slowly if you encounter a bear.
Exposing the Big Game 