WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana — Authorities searched Monday for a grizzly bear that attacked and killed a lady on a path west of Yellowstone National Park alongside the Montana-Idaho border.
The assault occurred Saturday morning only some hundred yards from a trailhead and personal campground. There was no signal that the bear, which was touring with not less than one cub, tried to eat the sufferer, who seems to have been jogging when she was fatally mauled, mentioned Morgan Jacobsen with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Authorities couldn’t say for sure whether or not the sufferer was preyed upon or whether or not it was an opportunity encounter as she traveled alone in a wooded space frequented by grizzly and black bears.
A hiker discovered her physique alongside the path at round 8 a.m. Saturday. The sufferer’s title has not been launched. She was sporting trainers and didn’t have bear spray, a deterrent that wildlife consultants advocate individuals carry in areas frequented by bears.
“This person was likely out for a morning jog along the trail and that’s when this happened,” mentioned Jacobsen.
Tracks of a grizzly bear and not less than one cub have been discovered on the scene of the assault, which occurred close to the Buttermilk Trailhead 8 miles west of West Yellowstone, a busy summer time vacationer city and gateway to the nationwide park.
The common climbing path is also utilized by individuals ATVs and different off-road autos
Rangers issued an emergency closure for areas of the Custer Gallatin National Forest. It didn’t embrace Yellowstone National Park.
A path digital camera captured a picture of a grizzly bear with two cubs within the space on Saturday, however there have been no sightings since, Jacobsen mentioned. Traps set for the bears on Saturday and Sunday nights got here up empty, and makes an attempt to find the bears from an plane have been unsuccessful.
Authorities had not determined if they’d set traps once more Monday night time or determined whether or not they would kill or relocate the grownup bear whether it is captured, Jacobsen mentioned.
As time goes by, he added, trapping turns into much less efficient as possibilities enhance of catching a bear that wasn’t concerned within the assault.
Grizzly bear populations within the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains have grown considerably in current many years. Since 2010, grizzlies in and round Yellowstone have killed not less than 9 individuals, however assaults stay comparatively uncommon within the area, which attracts a number of million vacationers every summer time.
A backcountry information was killed close to West Yellowstone two years in the past when he was mauled by a big grizzly bear that wildlife officers mentioned was most likely defending a close-by moose carcass. And a hiker was killed north of Yellowstone park final yr in a suspected grizzly encounter in a distant space of the Absaroka Mountains south of Livingston, Montana.
Encounters with people can show lethal for bears, too: A five-year-old feminine grizzly in Glacier National Park was euthanized final week after officers mentioned it received used to consuming meals from campgrounds and was changing into more and more aggressive.
Grizzlies are protected beneath federal regulation outdoors of Alaska. Elected officers within the Yellowstone area are pushing to raise protections and permit grizzly searching.
State officers final week warned guests and residents of grizzly bear sightings all through the state, “particularly in areas between the Northern Continental Divide and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.”
They implored these tenting and visiting parks to hold bear spray, retailer their meals whereas outdoors and have a tendency to their rubbish.
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