Morning Walk Turns Into A Nightmare
A guest at Jackson Lake Lodge inside Grand Teton National Park was mauled by a sow with 3 cubs within 50 yards of the cabins Wednesday morning. Mr. Dennis VanDenbos surprised the sow, around 6am, that was on a fresh elk kill and the bear acted like a bear charging him. Luckily for Mr. VanDenbos a wrangler at the nearby coral came to his rescue along with other people running the bears off.
Mr. VanDenbos was bitten 3 times in the buttocks and required surgery to treat his injuries. The Park Service has reclosed trails that had only been open for a few days because of grizzly activity. The Park service also does not plan to take any actions against this bear but rather continue to educate the humans to keep them safe.
I recently returned from this area and I can attest that bear activity was high and some of the human reactions to the bears are just dumb. That is not to say that in this situation that Mr. VanDenbos did anything wrong. The Park Service encourages people hiking in the parks to carry bear pepper spray and to avoid carrying food and other attractants. This is the first attack in Grand Teton National Park in a number of years but not really all that far to the north in Yellowstone a month ago a Photographer was attacked in a similar manner.
I did not carry pepper spray with me while I was out there and now I wonder if that was a smart decision. When ever I find myself in bear country and I’m not armed I do not mask any noise and try to make additional noise to avoid surprising a bear. I did not enter areas that the park service had closed because of bear activity but I witnessed people ignoring these signs as well as approaching bears well within side the 100 yard limit. The bottom line is that although many of the animals within the national parks have a higher tolerance of humans never mistake that for them being tame. They are wild animals and like these bears have recently demonstrated they will protect their young from perceived and actual threats.
Why is the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution trumped when we set foot in a National Park? Was this Teddy Roosevelt’s intention? Why is our right to self-defense denied?
Comment by George Brauneis — June 17, 2007 @ 11:32 am