What to Do When a Bear Attacks: Safety Tips in the Wake of Recent Grizzly Encounter

As the summer tourist season kicks off in Grand Teton National Park, a surprise encounter with two grizzly bears seriously injured a 35-year-old Massachusetts man. The victim, who was airlifted by helicopter to an ambulance and subsequently driven to the hospital, is currently in stable condition and is expected to fully recover.

The attack occurred on the Signal Mountain Summit Road, leading to the Signal Mountain Trail, a popular 7,723' peak on the eastern bank of Jackson Lake.

Protection of Bears

The remote area in the northwestern corner of Wyoming is home to numerous black and grizzly bears, both of which are protected under state and federal law. As a result of the incident, local authorities have temporarily closed both the access road and the hiking trail to the public.

North America has an estimated population of 900,000 black bears and roughly 45,000 brown or grizzly bears. Since the advent of record keeping, fatal bear attacks are extremely rare, averaging less than one per year. Specifically, since 1784, there have been 66 fatal attacks attributed to black bears and 82 fatal attacks attributed to brown bears.

Safety Measures

Experts recommend several safety measures to minimize chances of human/bear contact, such as paying attention to signs and checking websites for information about recent bear encounters, making plenty of noise, hiking in larger groups, bringing bear spray, and reporting bear encounters to the authorities.

Authorities in nearby Yellowstone National Park have been setting up bear traps to monitor and research local bear populations. Although the traps will not be placed near hiking trails with frequent foot traffic, the park service urges the public to be vigilant and avoid such areas.

The northwestern corner of Wyoming attracts hundreds of thousands of summer arrivals for hiking and mountaineering activities. Nearby Cody, WY receives an estimated 300,000-400,000 out-of-state tourists each summer season.