Grizzly attacks, three days after I was there

As I mentioned in the post immediately below this, among the places I was recently on vacation was Glacier National Park.

Now I see that two people were attacked there by a grizzly just three days after I was in the same area.

The National Park Service has said it will interview the two after they have recuperated. However, I am guessing they surprised the bear, and did not take adequate precautions to guard against surprise, such as talking, whistling or making noise on the trail, wearing bear bells, or doing something similar.

The majority of grizzly attacks, such as this one, are usually by a sow, and one with cubs. They are quite likely to attack when startled like this, in defense of their cubs.

I was at Many Glacier myself Aug. 22, three days before this attack. I did not hike down the trail they did, which trailheads at Many Glacier, because it was late in the day and because I saw grizzlies at about 400 yards above the lodge on a hillside.

Both regretfully (the photographer in me) and perhaps fortunately, that was my closest encounter.

I did see mountain goats close enough to pet and wolves at 800 yards in Yellowstone. I’ll post pictures in a couple of days.

Incidentally, beestings, lightning strikes and snakebite will all kill as many or more people in the United States each year. Yet, lightning is not even a living being, and the other two don’t evoke traditional predator images.