Bear attacks hiker at Yellowstone National Park, causes ‘significant injuries’
(NEXSTAR) - A pedestrian in Yellowstone National Park was attacked by a bear on Friday morning, marking the first incident of a bear injury on a visitor since June 2020.
Yellowstone officials said in a news release that the 39-year-old man, Mammoth, was hiking alone along the Beaver Ponds Trail in Hot Springs when he thought he was two grizzlies. One of the bears attacked the hiker, causing "significant injuries" to the man's lower back.
The climber was able to extricate himself from the area. An ambulance took her to a hospital in Livingston, Montana.
Yellowstone officials closed the Beaver Ponds Trail after the incident. Employees had also started sweeping the footpath to collect any pedestrians left in the area.
10 Second Terror: Alaskan Man Survives Brown Bear
Friday's incident marks the first bear attack in Yellowstone since June 22, 2020, when a lone female hiker was knocked over and scratched by a grizzly bear on a trail near Old Faithful. At the time, Yellowstone warned visitors to "always increase to groups of three or more" according to a 2020 news release.
The National Park Service (NPS) and Yellowstone also urge visitors to review best practices for camping and hiking in bear habitat (which includes all of Yellowstone), and to learn that in case of a bear encounter What is the plan.
This latest bear attack in Yellowstone also comes as NPS investigators seek to identify a woman who was filmed near a female bear and her cubs earlier this month.