Story Published:
Jul 29, 2010 at 10:13 PM MST
Story Updated:
Jul 29, 2010 at 10:13 PM MST
BILLINGS - One person is dead and two others injured after what wildlife officials are calling a very unusual bear attack at a popular campground near Yellowstone National Park.
Officials are still trying to figure out exactly what happened early Wednesday morning when a bear attacked 3 separate campers at the Soda Butte Campgrounds located one mile east of Cooke City. Investigators are still trying to locate the bear or bears involved in the attack, and determine what prompted it.
It was a strange and unsettling incident for wildlife officials Wednesday when they responded to reports of a bear attack at the Soda Butte Campgrounds near Cooke City at 2:30 a.m. Within hours officials received two more reports of bear attacks and by 4:30 they discovered the body of one of the victims, a deceased adult male.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Spokesman Ron Aasheim said the incident was troubling. "It's just one of those horrible, horrible tragedies. The interesting parts of this, no food storage rules were violated. There are bear boxes up there so it is a real interesting set of circumstances."
Two other campers were also injured in the attack, an adult male and female. Both victims were transported by ambulance to a hospital in Cody. Officials said bear attacks in Montana are unusual and rarely result in death. But what's even more puzzling said Aasheim is the fact that the three campers were in separate tents located at different sites within the campground. The attacks were located at the campground entrance, another 200 yards away, and one more a quarter of a mile away from there.
Aasheim said the next step is to look for the bear. "They will start looking for evidence on-site and from the victims and that means everything from looking for bear sign on-site. It could be scat, hair; it could be any number of things."
Unfortunately it's a process investigators are familiar with, a little more than 2 years ago an Oregon man was attacked at the same campground when a grizzly bear mauled him while sleeping in his tent. The man was badly injured, but survived.
Officials are not certain whether Wednesday's attacks were caused by one or multiple bears, they are also not sure if it was a grizzly or a black bear. But no matter what kind it was Aasheim said they will get rid of it. "We want to verify that we get the bear out of the population, you just can't tolerate a bear like that in that kind of an area."
Officials spent the majority of Wednesday combing the campground for evidence and setting a number of traps; if captured the responsible bear will be euthanized.
Names of the victims have not yet been released. Officials will hold a public meeting Thursday at the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce to discuss the incident. Stay tuned to KULR-8 News for a full report.
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