Two out-of-state visitors were injured in and around Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming this week after being attacked by a bison and a grizzly bear in separate incidents just days apart.
On Monday afternoon, an experienced 68-year-old outdoorsman from Buffalo, New York, was in the middle of a multi-day backpacking trip in the Wyoming wilderness when he was mauled by a grizzly bear at high elevation on Francs Peak — a 13,000-foot summit southeast of Yellowstone National Park that is known grizzly habitat.
The man was carrying bear spray, but officials with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said the attack happened too quickly for him to deploy it.
Despite his injuries, the unnamed hiker was able to activate a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) that was in his possession, which sent out a distress signal to local law enforcement.
A helicopter team that was dispatched to the mountain found the hiker and flew him to a medical evacuation helicopter, which then airlifted him to a hospital in Billings, Montana. There was no immediate word on his condition.A 68-year-old backpacker from Buffalo, New York, encountered a grizzly bear on a summit near Yellowstone National Park and was mauled by the animal (stock image).
The injured tourist managed to activate a Personal Locator Beacon, which summoned help. The huge tracks of the bear that mauled him are seen in the snow.Park County Sheriff's Office
Game and Fish officials did not plan to pursue the bear that attacked the backpacker, according to the statement.
“We wish the individual a full and speedy recovery,” said Cody Regional Wildlife Supervisor Corey Class.
The Yellowstone region spanning portions of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho is home to more than 700 grizzly bears. At least eight people have been killed by grizzlies in that area since 2010.
Just two days after the bear mauling at Francs Peak, a 71-year-old woman from West Chester, Pennsylvania, was gored by a bison near Storm Point at Yellowstone Lake, becoming the third person to have been injured by bison in Yellowstone National Park in four weeks.
The National Park Service stated in a news release that the unnamed hiker and her daughter unintentionally approached the bull bison as they were returning to their car at the trailhead, causing the animal to charge.
The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to West Park Hospital in Cody, Wyoming.
On Monday, a 34-year-old Colorado Springs man who had gotten too close to a bison near Giant Geyser was gored as he grabbed a child who was running away from the wild animal
On Monday, video captured a 34-year-old man from Colorado being gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park.Rob Goodell
The man spots the boy in the bison’s path and snatches him out of the line of attack. In doing so, he places himself between the child and the beast and is struck and lifted into the air by the bison’s horns, the video shows.