YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - A Montana man suffered severe injuries to his face Wednesday after being attacked by grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park.
The Park Service says that a man in his late fifties was taking photographs of bears along Trout Creek in Hayden Valley when he was attacked. After the attack, the man hiked two to three miles before other park visitors at about 1 p.m. discovered him. The man told park rangers a sow bear with a cub had attacked him.
The man was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone, Montana, and then transported by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls. A hospital spokeswoman declined to release information on his condition Wednesday evening.
Yellowstone Spokesman Al Nash says he was told that the man suffered severe injuries to his face consistent with being clawed by the bear. Nash says the park plans a thorough investigation.
The Park Service says there were no human injuries from bears in Yellowstone last year and only eight minor injuries have been reported since 2000. The last bear-caused human fatality in the park was in 1986.