After biting backpacker, black bear killed in Yellowstone

Posted 7/15/20

A black bear in Yellowstone National Park was killed by wildlife managers after it brazenly walked into a backcountry campsite, bit one of the five campers and then began eating their food.

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After biting backpacker, black bear killed in Yellowstone

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A black bear in Yellowstone National Park was killed by wildlife managers after it brazenly walked into a backcountry campsite, bit one of the five campers and then began eating their food.

The incident took place around 5 p.m. on July 6, at a campsite located roughly 3 miles from the Hellroaring Trailhead in northern Yellowstone, park officials announced in a Wednesday news release.

The backpackers — three adults and two children — had been sitting outside of their tents when the bear walked up and bit a woman on her arm and head, inflicting bruises and minor cuts, the release said.

The adult sow then nipped at one of the children’s hands and got into the group’s food, which, according to the release, had not yet been hung from a storage pole.

The group left the area and contacted Yellowstone authorities. When rangers arrived at the scene on horseback, “the bear was still in the campsite eating the backpackers’ food,” the National Park Service said.

Yellowstone officials decided to kill the bear because of concerns about human safety and the fact that the bear entered an occupied campsite, bit a person and “received a considerable food reward after this behavior,” the release explained.

It was the second time this year that a Yellowstone visitor has been injured by a bear: A female grizzly attacked a hiker on the Fairy Falls Trail in June and caused minor injuries, after the lone hiker apparently surprised the bear and a cub.

Black bears, meanwhile, caused trouble at multiple back- and frontcountry campsites last year. In June and July 2019, there were three instance of black bears getting into tents or food, including one instance where a bear bit into a woman’s tent and bruised her thigh. In all three incidents, the black bears “exhibited bold behaviors, showed no fear around people, and ... demonstrated food-conditioned behavior,” park officials said at the time. They reminded visitors to properly store food and scented items.

In Wednesday’s release, officials noted that it remains very rare for black bears to injure people, saying such attacks happen only about once every seven years on average in Yellowstone.

“The risk of being injured by a black bear while in backcountry campsites in Yellowstone National Park is approximately 1 in 850,000 overnight stays,” Yellowstone Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther said in a statement. “Although the risk is low, the park recommends that backcountry campers carry bear spray while hiking and when in camp. Hang food from the food pole at all times except when cooking or eating.”

Bears that became habituated to humans or conditioned to seeking human food typically have to be killed.

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