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Photographers and Bears

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Published Date

May 24, 2007

    Being able to leave Yellowstone, Denali, or Glacier national parks with images of grizzlies stored in your camera is a thrill for most park visitors. Problem is, there's a fine line between being far enough away from your subject to be safe and being too close and provoking the bruins.
    On Wednesday, a Montana man in his late 50s pushed the envelope too much in Yellowstone and suffered severe facial lacerations after being attacked by a sow grizzly and a cub. Fortunately, he was able to walk away from his encounter. No doubt he'll have an incredible story to carry through life.
    The unidentified man was photographing grizzlies along Trout Creek in the Hayden Valley, prime bear country. After the attack, he walked about three miles to the Grand Loop Road, where rangers provided initial treatment before he was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone, and then by Air Helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho falls, Idaho.
    This, I believe, is Yellowstone's first bear incident of 2007. There were no bear-caused injuries in the park last year, and only eight minor injuries since 2000. The park's last bear-caused human fatality was in 1986.

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