Bear essentials

Yellowstone Park grizzly kills man

A grizzly bear moves through the brush at Yellowstone Park in Wyoming in this file photo. A grizzly mauled a man to death in the park Wednesday, the first such death in the park in a quarter century. (James Peaco/Yellowstone National Park/Associated Press)

A killer grizzly is roaming Yellowstone National Park's backcountry after mauling a man who apparently surprised the female bear and its cubs while hiking with his wife.
Officials closed remote campgrounds and trails near the scene of Wednesday's attack close to Canyon Village, which sits in the middle of the sprawling park. The identity of the 57-year-old victim was being withheld until his family could be notified, said Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash.
The mauling occurred just after Yellowstone's peak weekend for tourism. While lamenting the death, officials said they didn't want to overemphasize the danger to visitors.
"This is a wild and natural park," said Diane Shober, director of the state Wyoming Travel and Tourism agency. "At the same time, the likelihood of this happening again is small."
It was the park's first fatal grizzly mauling since 1986, but the third in the Yellowstone region in just over a year amid ever-growing numbers of grizzlies and tourists roaming the same wild landscape of scalding-hot geysers and sweeping mountain vistas.
The bear attacked Wednesday morning to defend against a perceived threat, park officials said. The wife of the victim called 911 on her cellphone and other hikers in the area responded to her cries for help.
Nash said the couple saw the bear twice on their hike. The first time, they continued hiking. The second time, the grizzly charged them and the man told his wife to run.News...