Michigan man killed by grizzly in Yellowstone

[Feuer Frei!]

Wildlife agents were trying to capture a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park on Monday after it killed a Michigan hiker in the second fatal bear attack this summer at the famed park.
The body of John Wallace, 59, was discovered Friday in a backcountry area known for its high population of bears. An autopsy concluded he died from injuries sustained in a bear attack.


After a fatal mauling last month - the first inside the increasingly crowded park in 25 years - authorities let the responsible grizzly go because it was protecting its cubs.
This time, rangers have set traps with the intent to capture and kill the bruin that attacked Wallace. Its guilt would be established through DNA analysis connecting it to evidence found at the mauling scene, park officials said.


SOURCE (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_YELLOWSTONE_BEAR_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-29-12-21-58)

[Torplexed]

"It's hideously perverse to think that someone who loved nature so much would come to such an untimely end at the hand of nature."Funny how we assume that because we love nature, nature will love us back. :hmmm: Yes, we went to a lot of work to bring the bears back from extinction in the park. Maybe they're still sore that they were ever on the brink of extinction.

[Sailor Steve]

Or maybe killing people is just what grizzlies do.

[HunterICX]

After a fatal mauling last month - the first inside the increasingly crowded park in 25 years - authorities let the responsible grizzly go because it was protecting its cubs. This time, rangers have set traps with the intent to capture and kill the bruin that attacked Wallace. Its guilt would be established through DNA analysis connecting it to evidence found at the mauling scene, park officials said.

:roll: I love humanity :nope:

not making any sense, just killing the bear because it did something it does by nature.

HunterICX

[Feuer Frei!]

:roll: I love humanity :nope:

not making any sense, just killing the bear because it did something it does by nature.

HunterICX
It seems to make us feel better.
Makes us content and feel powerful, killing something that acts on its instincts and (perhaps) felt threatened or had its cubs threatened.
Threatening actions can be acted out towards animals in many ways.
Threatening actions do not have to involve guns nor do they have to involve aggressive movements.

[Growler]

For a guy "who loved nature" as much as he apparently did, you'd think that hiking alone in bear country would have been something he'd have known not to do.

If you love nature, stop acting so surprised when it tries to kill you - that's natural, sports fans.

We humans are funny when our perch on the top of the food chain wobbles from time to time.

[Jimbuna]

Shouldn't have been in the area alone and definitely should have known better....but tragic nonetheless :nope:

[Herr-Berbunch]

Just hand over the pickernic basket! :o

[NeonSamurai]

Our species has this arrogance that we are untouchable, that we can do what ever we please and that nature has to cower in front of us. Anything that breaks this rule must be punished.

To a predator you are potentially either a threat, competition, or food. Any of these can provoke an attack. Do stupid things in areas with wild animals, and suffer the consequences. Ignorance is also no excuse. You go someplace, know what is there, what precautions you have to take, and what you should not be doing.


As for the food chain, we are only on top as long as we have our technology. Without it we are by in large a prey species (as countless ancient specimens of the homo species show).

[Armistead]

Or maybe killing people is just what grizzlies do.

I agree, like the griz was out of bounds and should've known better. Like the circus tiger that killed it's trainer, everyone said the tiger went crazy... Chris Rock got it right...

the tiger didn't go crazy, the tiger went tiger...

[Stealhead]

Anyone ever seen that documentary about the guy that lived in Alaska and "talked" with grizzlies? This guy actually got close enough to many of them to give them names and all and he still got mauled by one.It is just instinct to them which we humans generally lack because we have suppressed it for so long.

Surprised the guy was alone he should have known better I know for sure that you can smell a Florida Black Bear long before you ever see him so I assume that you will smell a grizzly the same way and be alert of your surroundings once you smell the grizzly.Which means looking behind your path as well because any predator will stalk you possibly.Honestly they make some of our national parks seem like theme parks which they are not at Disney nothing can kill you in Yellow Stone alot can kill you and not just the predators idiots have been attacked by the bison there before as well.I saw some video once of this man and woman getting charged and sent flying by an annoyed Bison they did not get killed lucky for them but honestly they got what they deserved for getting too close in the first place.

For example most animals want to be aware of what is going on around them at all times and dislike anything unknown being behind them.However in the human world it is considered rude if you hear someone behind you to look back to see what they are doing.I break this human made rule very often because my instinct is to not allow something unknown to walk behind me.Many people walk along with Ipods and such stuffed into their ears I would never do this because you lose situational awareness even on the street which is just as bad as doing so in the wilderness because any person wishing to rob you is seeking out the one who is not paying attention to his surroundings just like any wild animal will seek out prey.

[RickC Sniper]

These sorts of tragedies have become more common since it became popular to hike\camp in remote areas. Forty or so years ago when I visited Yellowstone no one would have considered going where people now commonly go.

Bears are not pets and even so called "tamed" ones in a circus are not "tame" at all. That's the reason people pay to see lion, or bear trainer acts in a circus...because if the animals in the cages were tame Labrador dogs who would pay to see that? The trainer takes a risk going into a cage with them. He accepts that risk, we pay to see him take that risk.

Sad that they feel they need to destroy an animal for doing and being the very thing that makes them "special" or "interesting" animals to us in the first place.

[kiwi_2005]

I watched a documentary on Grizzly man, who lived with the bears, a bear enthusiast a crazy man imo. In 2003 he and his girlfriend were eaten by a bear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man

[gimpy117]

the grizz are NOT to be messed with. this is another example why

[Stealhead]

That is the guy I was thinking of Grizzly Man.

I agree with RickC Sniper I think many of these incidents are to blame on people who dont have proper wilderness experience going deep into it and getting themselves hurt or killed.The other problem steams from too many people building subdivision urban style homes in areas where animals such as grizzlies and wolves live and these people have no idea who there neighbors are so to speak nor that they are encroaching on their land.

Some wild animals are running out of habitat at such a rate that they simply adapt(in their manner not the human manner) bears are highly attracted to human trash they get a sniff of a tasty chicken carcass and they will be digging into that trash can and if you interrupt them well bad news.

Anyone watch that show about California Fish and Game on NatGeo? There was an episode where the game warden got called to a bear complaint it was at one of those outpost suburbs and it was very clear that the home owner was a huge city slicker and had no idea about wild animals at all.The game warden just said when he got back into his truck that people should not be building such developments in wilderness areas because the people moving into them have no idea the dangers of living in the wilderness.

I think a few months back some woman that was an Olympian from out in Montana or some place out west and who was aware the dangers of Grizzlies she got surprised by one on a trail she was running and it did "check" her out which is going to be painful given the strength of a grizzly but it did not consider her a threat and left her alone of course she still got pretty torn up. Of course a female grizzly with cubs death on a stick should you have the misfortune to upset her.

Just imagine a Kodiak I would not want be with in 500 yds of one of those in the wild.