Editor's note: This updates with a sow grizzly and cub being held, no bear spray being found at the site, and no sign of other bears.
A sow grizzly and a cub were being held Monday at Yellowstone National Park while tests and an autopsy were being performed on the body of a Montana man killed while hiking through the park.
DNA tests and examination of scat from the sow will hold her fate; if they tie her to Lance Crosby, 63, of Billings, who was killed Friday and partially consumed by a bear, she'll be killed and the park will try to place the cub in a zoo. If there's no connection, she will be fitted with a radio collar and released along with her cub, Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said.
The sow was trapped sometime between late Friday and Saturday morning near the Elephant Back Loop Trail near Lake Village. Her cub was found in the area Monday morning, Ms. Bartlett said.
Mr. Crosby, who had spent five seasons living and working in the park for Medcor, the company that operates three urgent care clinics in Yellowstone, had been out hiking near the trail when he was reported missing after failing to show up for work on Friday. A ranger found his body, which had been partially consumed and cached under forest duff, around noon that day.
Ms. Bartlett said no bear spray was found at the site where the body was recovered. There also was no indication that any other bears were involved, she said.
"From tracks, we were expecting a sow with a cub or cubs," said the spokeswoman.
Park officials said they were not looking forward to having to destroy the sow.
“The decision to euthanize a bear is one that we do not take lightly. As park managers, we are constantly working to strike a balance between the preservation of park resources and the safety of our park visitors and employees,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk. “Our decision is based on the totality of the circumstances in this unfortunate event. Yellowstone has had a grizzly bear management program since 1983. The primary goals of this program are to minimize bear-human interactions, prevent human-caused displacement of bears from prime food sources, and to decrease the risk of bear-caused human injuries.”
The Elephant Back Loop Trail rises through lodgepole forest and circles Elephant Back Mountain, which rises to 8,600 feet just north of Lake Village. In his hiking book on Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Top Trails, Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks, Andrew Dean Nystrom wrote that bear activity in the area is possible in spring "due to the proximity to (Yellowstone) lake's spawning streams."
The last mauling in Yellowstone was four years ago, when a Michigan man was killed and partially consumed in August 2011 while hiking on the Mary Mountain Trail. Nearly two months earlier, another visitor was out for an early morning hike with his wife on the Wapita Lake Trail near Canyon Village when he was run down and killed by a sow grizzly that investigators determined was exhibiting normal defensive behavior.
Comments
"If it were not for humans this bear and her cub would still be safe and free"
And if it were not for this bear this man would still be alive. And the comment on Eugenics? You've got to be joking. It is nothing more than an unfortunate set of circumstances. Man should be allowed to walk in the woods and realize that certain dangers go wit it. And unless you want your parks to be human free then ridding bears who find humans a source for food is also a responsible response.
What makes you think hiking with another person would have prevented this?
It makes zero sense to kill the bear. Close the trail! Quit promoting tourism in these areas. It seems pretty draconian to me to euthanize a bear for being where they are suppose to be.
Peter - are you really advocating shutting down Yellowstone to save one bear?
Why not relocate the bear and cub to another national park.....perhaps several states away.
I feel sorry for this poor man and his family but somehow it's exhilirationg to think there are still places left where a grizzly can kill and eat you if you are not careful.Sorry if that offends anyone.....
The man did nothing wrong.
The bear did nothing wrong.
We have been going to YNP for years. It is a wild place, and many seem to not care about the dangers to themselves or the animals. The park rangers tell you to hike in groups, carry bear spray, stay on the trails and make noise. He was jogging alone, without bear spray & off the trails - he was doing it all wrong. I am tired of bears being killed when they are doing what bears do. If this bear had no prior history of being a problem bear than she should not be killed. We went this past June and saw lots of visitors that were doing some really stupid things. My heart breaks for the bear and her cubs & the family of the hiker. But .. the hiker should have known better.