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Grizzly Mauls Visitor At Grand Teton National Park

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Published Date

May 20, 2024

A Massachusetts man is recovering from being mauled by a grizzly bear at Grand Teton National Park/NPS file

A 35-year-old Massachusetts man exploring Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming was seriously mauled by a grizzly bear but is expected to fully recover.

A park release said the unidentified man was in the area of Signal Mountain Summit Road on Sunday when he apparently surprised two grizzlies, one of which attacked him and inflicted unspecified injuries.

Grand Teton rangers and Teton County Search and Rescue personnel responded to the scene to provide emergency medical care and air-lifted the patient via helicopter to an awaiting ambulance that transported him to St. John’s Hospital in Jackson, Wyoming. The man was reported to be in stable condition Monday.

The Signal Mountain Summit Road and Signal Mountain Trail were currently closed to all public entry.

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Comments

Submitted by Patrice on May 20, 2024 - 7:02pm.

I hope the authorities leave the Mama and Cub alone. The hiker was in the wrong place. We were at Signal Mountain and around the whole area on Saturday. There are signs up every where warning of the bears in the area. Personal decisions come with both good and bad consequences. I'm happy the hike was released from the hospital today. 


Submitted by SarahHiker on May 20, 2024 - 8:34pm.

I hope that no harm comes to a bear being a bear in its natural environment. 


Submitted by Jenny on May 20, 2024 - 8:54pm.

From the description, it sounds like the bear charged and then retreated. Especially if it involved a female and cub, this is typical and acceptable bear behavior and warrants no action against the bear. Rangers should close the area until this bear and others disperse into higher country.


Submitted by A. Johnson on May 21, 2024 - 12:13pm.

Human beings exploring Grand Teton NP are also in their natural environment.

 

Please stop elevating one species over another.

 

We do not know if the human misbehaved or failed to take necessary and ordinary precautions.  We do not know if the griz had prior negative interactions with humans, or was habituated in some way.

 

In either case, a griz can misbehave or act unreasomnbaly in violent ways or in the wrong place that would warrant removal or culling.  It's not about what is natural or which organism was in its "natural environmnet"--WE ARE ALL NATURAL.


Submitted by Smoky bear on May 21, 2024 - 11:46pm.

True, we are all natural, so when nature's  "most dangerous creature on the planet- the human being" (or Tour on) is "Unreasonably" shredded pieces for getting too close to New offspring, just look at it as being all natural... no cause for removal or  culling, ... just look at it as one of nature's risks


Submitted by Chris… on May 22, 2024 - 8:31am.

err... too close? 
i have scraed a black bear and two cubs in Yosemite on the falls trail at dusk. Came up a swithcback and down the hill 10 yards or so and there she was.
I got lucky and it did nothing. Had it attacked- there would have been little I could have done. 

while the gentleman should not have been in an area closed to the public the idea they deserved to be attacked is absurd. 
nature is not always viewed safely from a car or in a guided tour. Things happen.

look up the "Swiss miss" fatality in Yellowstone 1984.  That story still made it into the nps training as she did everything right. But got fatally mauled anyway 


Submitted by KTH on May 22, 2024 - 8:36am.

I hope that man is ok. There are bear warning signs in parks all over so I don't see how that's cause to blame this unlucky guy. Pretty insane to feel empathy for a bear and not a man in this situation.

I think it's pathetic, shame of you gals, grow up. 


Submitted by Naturally on May 22, 2024 - 5:12pm.

well said


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