Editor's note: This updates with a sow grizzly and cub being held, no bear spray being found at the site, and no sign of other bears.
A sow grizzly and a cub were being held Monday at Yellowstone National Park while tests and an autopsy were being performed on the body of a Montana man killed while hiking through the park.
DNA tests and examination of scat from the sow will hold her fate; if they tie her to Lance Crosby, 63, of Billings, who was killed Friday and partially consumed by a bear, she'll be killed and the park will try to place the cub in a zoo. If there's no connection, she will be fitted with a radio collar and released along with her cub, Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said.
The sow was trapped sometime between late Friday and Saturday morning near the Elephant Back Loop Trail near Lake Village. Her cub was found in the area Monday morning, Ms. Bartlett said.
Mr. Crosby, who had spent five seasons living and working in the park for Medcor, the company that operates three urgent care clinics in Yellowstone, had been out hiking near the trail when he was reported missing after failing to show up for work on Friday. A ranger found his body, which had been partially consumed and cached under forest duff, around noon that day.
Ms. Bartlett said no bear spray was found at the site where the body was recovered. There also was no indication that any other bears were involved, she said.
"From tracks, we were expecting a sow with a cub or cubs," said the spokeswoman.
Park officials said they were not looking forward to having to destroy the sow.
“The decision to euthanize a bear is one that we do not take lightly. As park managers, we are constantly working to strike a balance between the preservation of park resources and the safety of our park visitors and employees,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk. “Our decision is based on the totality of the circumstances in this unfortunate event. Yellowstone has had a grizzly bear management program since 1983. The primary goals of this program are to minimize bear-human interactions, prevent human-caused displacement of bears from prime food sources, and to decrease the risk of bear-caused human injuries.”
The Elephant Back Loop Trail rises through lodgepole forest and circles Elephant Back Mountain, which rises to 8,600 feet just north of Lake Village. In his hiking book on Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Top Trails, Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks, Andrew Dean Nystrom wrote that bear activity in the area is possible in spring "due to the proximity to (Yellowstone) lake's spawning streams."
The last mauling in Yellowstone was four years ago, when a Michigan man was killed and partially consumed in August 2011 while hiking on the Mary Mountain Trail. Nearly two months earlier, another visitor was out for an early morning hike with his wife on the Wapita Lake Trail near Canyon Village when he was run down and killed by a sow grizzly that investigators determined was exhibiting normal defensive behavior.
Comments
8 JULY 2011
Yellowstone National Park authorities will not try to capture a female grizzly that killed a hiker because the bear was trying to defend its cubs when it was surprised by the man.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012080/Yellowstone-National-Par...
We have visited many of our National Parks and have loved every one. Glacier, Yellowstone and Denali are our favorites because of the grizzlies that live there. We love seeing them BUT we do everything we can to stay safe. I am so sorry for Mr. Crosby and his family. This was a terrible accident. However the sow seems to have been doing what mama bears do in protecting her baby. Possibly relocating her deeper into the back country would be a solution. We humans are in their territory and we have to know and respect the rules of nature.
It seems that Mr Crosby's death, while tragic, was also due his own negligence. Running early morning in a known bear habitat, without a moneymaker or bear spray? I learned my lesson a few years ago, running through a residential neighborhood in Tahoe of all places. There were warning signs posted everywhere but I thought, surely not. Sure enough, I ran up on a single blackie & the only thing that saved me was that he was too startled to chase me right away. If it had killed me, whose fault would that have been? Mama bear does not deserve death for acting like a bear. Just relocate her to a more isolated location away from humans.
Reminds me of what a South Dakota Park Ranger told me when I asked why they didn't seem to have bears. "They're way too dangerous," he said."people killed 'em off for good reason - so they could be safe outside and their kids wouldn't get eaten!" We laughed and he was grinning and said it half-jokingly - but there was some wisdom there. Couldn't settle the west with grizz chasing them!
Read, "Some Bears Kill" for in depth reports of attacks- provoked and, uh, not.
Personally, I would not hike in grizz country, or sleep in a tent, either. And I've been there and seen them. They are losing any natural fear of humans because of proximity.
I'll stay in my car or RV, carry bear spray, and be watchful.
I'm totally against killing this bear.....she was probably protecting her cub.....did you ever think he got to close and didn't even know they were there?? If he'd worked there for 5 seasons he should know to carry bear spray......I've been tracked by a grizzly and didn't even know it was around......I think mama and her cub should be collared and released somewhere else and see how they do or keep her there in your bear habitat or put both in a zoo......she didn't do anything wrong!!!!
Don't kill the bear. Humans are not the owners of the planet.