Why Yellowstone Can be a Magnet for Deadly Misadventures
Transcript
00:00 Every year, at least one or two visitors to the park are gored by bison,
00:05 after getting too close for photo ops and selfies.
00:09 And in 2018, two women were kicked by elk near a Yellowstone hotel.
00:15 At least 20 people have died in the park's thermal pools.
00:19 Most fall in accidentally, but in 1981,
00:23 a man decided to dive into a pool that was 202 degrees Fahrenheit to try and save his friend's drowning dog.
00:31 Neither he nor the dog survived.
00:35 But for hikers out in Yellowstone's backcountry,
00:39 one of the biggest potential dangers is a mother grizzly with cubs.
00:45 Bear attacks in Yellowstone are rare, but since 1872,
00:50 at least eight people have been mauled to death by bears inside the park.
00:56 One happened surprisingly close to the main road.
01:01 It was about 8.30 a.m. on July 6, 2011,
01:05 when a couple from California parked their car in this lot at the northern end of the Hayden Valley.
01:12 This is the starting point of the Wapiti Lake Trail.
01:17 As they set out for a day hike, they passed a sign that read, "Danger, you are entering bear country."
01:26 The couple headed east across this open hillside.
01:31 Their first destination was Yellowstone's Clear Lake.
01:35 After they left the forest, another hiker alerted them to a mother grizzly and her two cubs foraging in a field below them.
01:43 As the couple turned and headed toward the trees, the mother grizzly spotted them.
01:53 Suddenly, she started to charge.
01:57 The man and his wife began yelling as they ran into the forest.
02:02 But within seconds, 500 feet up the trail, the grizzly caught up to them,
02:07 knocked the man down, and mauled him to death.
02:11 She turned back to find his wife, who was hiding under a fallen tree just 15 feet away.
02:18 The grizzly picked her up by her backpack and put her down again, uninjured.
02:24 Then, she left.
02:30 At the time of the attack, the couple was less than a mile and a half from their car.
02:36 Since that day, there have been two more fatal bear attacks inside the park.
02:43 At the scene of one of these killings, park officials found DNA from the same mother grizzly that had mauled the man in 2011.
02:52 They also found disturbing evidence that she had fed on human remains.
02:57 Fearful that she might now consider people as food, the park superintendent decided to find the bear and put her down.
03:06 Her cubs were spared and sent to the Toledo Zoo.
03:15 (music)