Some bears are just a big pain in the azzz....

[MarvB]

'I was in big trouble': Grizzly mauls lodge guest on morning walk
By WHITNEY ROYSTER
Star-Tribune environmental reporter Thursday, June 14, 2007

JACKSON -- A Fremont County science and physical education teacher suffered severe puncture wounds to his back and buttocks Wednesday when he was mauled by a grizzly bear near Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.

Dennis VanDenbos, 54, was attacked by a female grizzly just before 6 a.m. as he was walking on the Wagon Road just yards from some cabins and below the corrals at Jackson Lake Lodge. He apparently surprised the grizzly that was feeding on an elk carcass with her yearlings.

The grizzly is the same bear with three yearling cubs that has frequented the area and been regularly seen by visitors this spring, prompting park officials in recent weeks to issue public notices about bear safety.

Grand Teton officials also had closed the same trails last Friday after the grizzly was feeding on a kill in the area. The agency reopened the trails earlier this week after the grizzly moved north, and had signs posted indicating there was bear activity in the area.

Speaking from his hospital room at St. John's Medical Center in Jackson, VanDenbos said he was walking up the Wagon Road looking at a cow elk grazing off to his right.

On his left was the grizzly with three cubs.

"When I first saw them, she was charging right at me," VanDenbos said. The bear was within 10 feet, and he could see the three cubs behind her.

"She was definitely charging, teeth very visible, and she made this attack, and I yelled," he said. "I was just startled. So I yelled in a way to maybe bluff her off."

The bear stopped, he said, and turned and looked at her cubs, while VanDenbos backed up.

"I'm backing up now, and she turns and comes toward me again," he said. "She's on all fours. I've heard when they bluff they're up on their back legs. When they're on all fours, that's bad."

His first thought? "Oh, shit," he said.

"I thought, 'This is bad,' so I just dove off to my right off the road and into the ditch and started my play-dead routine," he said.

He said he lay flat, not in the fetal position, and didn't cover his head with his hands, as is recommended during a grizzly attack. The bear came around to his right and bit his back.

"I just sensed it as kind of a threatened thing," he said. "She bit my back and kind of shook it a little. Pain is not something that occurred to me."

VanDenbos said he had a sense the cubs were watching. Then she bit his right buttock, "grabbed and shook."

"I just felt power, a very powerful bite," he said. After a period of time, the bear bit his left buttock "and kind of shook a little bit more."

"I was thinking I was in big trouble," he said, adding that he knew she charged to protect her cubs.

"After the third bite I had this thought that maybe she was thinking of breakfast for her and her cubs," he said. "I was a little worried."

He heard someone yell -- it was a wrangler from the corrals -- and VanDenbos began yelling for help. The wrangler and others were coming down the road, and the bear left.

VanDenbos lost consciousness while waiting for an ambulance, but regained it shortly thereafter. He was transported to St. John's Medical Center, where he underwent surgery, while doctors cleaned out his puncture wounds and cuts.

This was the first grizzly attack on a human in Grand Teton since 2001.

Aftermath

The Park Service has no intention of relocating or killing the bear, park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs said.

"It was a natural reaction by a wild bear to being surprised while feeding on a freshly killed carcass, so we don't have any plans to do any resource actions against this bear at this time," she said.

The Park Service has closed the trails in the area around Jackson Lake Lodge, and guests at the lodge are being given fliers indicating there is grizzly activity in the area.

Cinda Culton, director of sales and marketing for the Grand Teton Lodge Co., which owns Jackson Lake Lodge, said the company works with the Park Service to offer services to visitors, while doing extensive education to allow people to understand they are in a wild setting.

There is information about the lodge's wild nature in brochures, on large posters in the lobby, on the desk at check-in, and even on the back of bathroom stalls. Visitor safety is of "paramount importance," but the habitat is "all part of (wildlife's) terrain," she said.

Grizzlies have been in close proximity to the lodge and guest cabins before, Culton said.

VanDenbos, who said he was about 50 yards from one of the lodge's cabins during the mauling, supports the Park Service's actions.

"There was not much else for the bear to do not knowing my intentions," he said. "I don't hold any grudge against this bear. She's a gal with three cubs trying to keep them fed."

Skaggs said the Park Service has been monitoring the location of the grizzly and three yearlings by ranger and visitor reports. She said the bear used the same area last year without incident.

If something were to happen to the mother, Skaggs said, the cubs would likely survive, as they will be pushed away by the mother next spring after denning together this winter for the last time.

With visitor education and safety, the agency hopes to keep both the grizzly family and visitors safe.

"We always take visitor safety very seriously -- hence the closures," Skaggs said. "But this is a national park, and we also protect the resources, and this is a wild bear who performed a typical defensive response to being surprised. When you're in a national park with wild animals, people need to be aware of the potential of an encounter and take precautions."

In recent weeks, the Park Service pushed a public awareness campaign, saying all of Grand Teton should be considered grizzly country. People should carry bear spray and follow regulations to store food -- along with toothpaste and sunscreen -- in campgrounds. Next year, bear canisters, where food is stored away from bears, will be required in the backcountry. People can borrow them from ranger stations now.

The agency also recommends people hike in groups and make noise if hiking alone.

VanDenbos said he didn't think of packing his pepper spray when heading to Jackson Lake Lodge for his education conference, which ended Wednesday.

For now, he feels lucky.

"I'm very lucky that I was close by and the wrangler heard me," he said. "I don't know if the bear after three bites would have just left or if I had been in the wilderness if the bear would have decided, 'Well, it's breakfast time.'"

His hopes for recovery?

"The only problem," VanDenbos said, "will be sitting."

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

"I think he shit himself!"

 

[ashersdad]

If he shit himself, why did the bear bite his ass???

 

[wadeerslayer]

he sh*t himself after the bear bit his azz thats why the bear quit biting him lol

 

[Tom]

Makes sense.