Wild Country

[griztrax]

Bear Mauling at the Soda Butte campground

The Soda Butte campground is located about one mile east of Cooke City, Montana and covers about 10 acres of rolling terrain at an elevation of about 7,500 feet. I've never stayed there - it's way too close to Cooke City for my tastes, with Cooke City having a long-standing reputation as a place with less than stellar bear country etiquette. I've swung through the campground a few times, and each time, there was a lot of food scattered around the sites. In this last incident, the victims were said to have stored their food in the metal boxes provided for that purpose, but unfortunately, previous guests may not have been as careful. Bear management hasn't identified the specie of the bear or bears yet, but they do have several baited traps out in the area. The campground has, of course, been closed.

I prefer camping higher up in the Beartooth Range - the site above was just below timberline in one of my favorite spots along the Beartooth Plateau.

[Bill]

The latest news is that it was a sow Griz with three cubs. They had her trapped along with two of the cubs by this evening and they could hear the third cub crying for it's mom. The sow will be destroyed per the bear management plan since she killed a human. The cubs may go to a zoo or research center if such a place can be found, but they may end up euthanized as well. Either way, they are dead to the ecosystem. This is a starnge and unusually violent attack. It doesn't seem to be predatory as she didn't attempt to feed on the man she killed. The bear must have received food rewards in the past and she was likely in a very stressed state, lactacting for three cubs. I have some folks out west looking into this and I'll post if I hear anything further.
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Wild Bill

[griztrax]

That's sad for the humans involved and also for the fact that 4 healthy bears will be removed from the Yellowstone region. I don't believe that I've heard of a sow with cubs pulling a stunt like that before. Usually, it seems to either be a young bear that's still learning the ropes, or an old bear in poor health.
Thanks for the update.

[Bill]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_5cb13602-9b79-11df-b287-001cc4c03286.html[url][/url]
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Wild Bill

[Bill]

I hit submit before preview on the prior post, but I pasted the link from the front page of the Billings Gazette. It appears now that was indeed a predatory attack as the victims body was partially consumed. This didn't come out in the earlier reports. This is really quite an incident and obviously horrible for the victim and his family. I camped here back in the 1990s when I was doing some fishing in the area. Pebble & Slough creek campgrounds were overflowing at the time and I got pushed up here. Had the dickens scared out of me in the early morning by a cow moose and calf that were right by my tent without me hearing a thing. Everyone is trying to grasp what happened, but the fact that this attack took place in a front country campground might say something. There must have been a history for this bear. The necropsy may also yield additional information.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_5cb13602-9b79-11df-b287-001cc4c03286.html[url][/url]
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Wild Bill

[Bill]

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100728/US.Bear.Mauling.Death/[url]

The captured the fourth bear. This article contains some additional details. [/url]
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Wild Bill

[Bill]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_302b8ed7-208a-5ac6-b651-a1d22a378123.html

This may explain some of the bears agressive behavior, but something about this attack still doesn't wash. I'm interested to know what the sow's state of health was.
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Wild Bill

[Bill]

http://www.ktvq.com/news/bear-mauling-investigation-takes-a-new-turn/

Oh man, if this turns out to be true........
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Wild Bill

[griztrax]

I can't say that I'd be surprised if the report is true. There are a lot of ethical photographers that shoot in the Yellowstone region, but just as many that will do anything to get a shot. Baiting, entering restricted areas - nothing seems to be off-limits to some of the more desperate photogs.
To me, the weight of the bear didn't seem that out of the norm, especially for this time of the season. Feeding 3 cubs would keep her busy, but would also make her susceptible to baiting. I hope that if they find out that the charge is true and can identify the slob, that they do more than just ban them from the park or forest for a few years.