Friday, June 22, 2007 12:01 AM CDT
Wildlife author is the victim of grizzly attack
By LEE NEWS SERVICE
BILLINGS, Mont. — A wildlife author and photographer from Bozeman has been identified as the man who was mauled by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park last week.
Jim Cole, 57, sustained serious injuries to his face in the attack near Trout Creek in Hayden Valley.
Cole was in fair condition at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho, hospital officials said.
Cole told rangers he was attacked by a female grizzly with her cub while taking photos. He walked two to three miles to the Grand Loop Road, where he was found by visitors.
He was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone and then was flown by helicopter to the hospital in Idaho Falls.
Park officials said Cole was hiking alone, off-trail in a backcountry area that is considered prime grizzly habitat. He was carrying pepper spray, but it’s unclear if it was used during the incident.
Rangers are still gathering information about what happened.
“Any incident like this requires a pretty thorough investigation,” Al Nash, a Yellowstone spokesman, said.
Female bears, especially those with cubs, tend to strike with their claws, and it appeared that Cole was clawed more than once, doing “significant damage” to his face, Nash said.
Nash said there were no plans to take action against the grizzly.
Cole was injured in a bear attack once before, the Park Service said. In September 1993, he walked out of the backcountry in Glacier National Park after being hurt by a grizzly there.
In 2005, he was charged and later acquitted on a misdemeanor charge in Yellowstone for approaching within 100 yards of three bears, according to court records.
Cole is the author of “Lives of Grizzlies, Montana and Wyoming,” and “Lives of Grizzlies, Alaska.”
Bear attacks in Yellowstone are rare. There were 32 between 1980 and 2002, according to park officials, making the chances of being hurt by a bear in Yellowstone around 1 in 1.9 million.
There were no bear-caused injuries to people in Yellowstone last year. Eight people have been hurt by bears in Yellowstone since 2000; five people have been killed dating back to 1916.
The last bear-caused fatality in the park was in 1986, when a photographer was attacked after following a female grizzly too closely in Hayden Valley, according to park records.
Hayden Valley and the area around Trout Creek are busy areas for grizzlies. Six sightings were reported in the area in the first two weeks of May, the latest recording period that’s available.
Black bears and grizzly bears, including some with cubs, are active in the spring.
Visitors are encouraged to hike in groups, make noise and carry pepper spray.
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gap wrote on Jun 22, 2007 4:27 PM: