Grizzly Bear Kills Yellowstone Hiker

A female grizzly bear killed a man who was hiking with his wife on Wednesday near the start of the Wapiti Lake trail in north-central Yellowstone National Park. “A National Park Service statement said the couple had inadvertently surprised the mother grizzly and her cubs, and in ‘an attempt to defend a perceived threat to her cubs, the bear attacked and fatally wounded the man.'” From Reuters.

Park officials say this is the first fatal attack in the park in almost 25 years. “The last fatal grizzly attack in Yellowstone was in October 1986, when the mauled body of a man was found by the road near Otter Creek. A camera and tripod were nearby, causing park officials to conclude that the man was attacked while he was photographing a grizzly.” In the Los Angeles Times. (Last fall a Michigan man was killed and two other fly fishers injured when a grizzly attacked their camp near Soda Butte, but that incident occurred just north of the Park border.)