hard3
southern Illinois
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Just saw this on the news wire
1 dead, 2 injured in bear attack at MT campground
AP
By MATT VOLZ, Associated Press Writer Matt Volz, Associated Press Writer – 43 mins ago
HELENA, Mont. – At least one bear rampaged through a campground Wednesday near Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the night, killing one person and injuring two others during a terrifying attack that forced people to hide in their cars as the animal tore through tents.
Three separate attacks left a male dead and a female and another male injured at the Soda Butte campground. The female suffered severe lacerations from bites on her arms, and the surviving male was bitten on his calf. Both were hospitalized in Cody, Wyo.
Wildlife officials did not release the identities or ages of the victims. A response team was being sent to piece together what happened.
"We don't know if it was one bear, two bears, a black bear or grizzly bear," Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said. "Obviously, the bear's gone now. Will it come back tonight? That's the question."
Authorities were setting traps and seeking bear hair, saliva and droppings while measuring the bite wounds of victims to determine the type and number of bears involved in the attack.
Park County dispatchers took a 911 call early Wednesday from a male reporting that a bear had bitten his ankle and was tearing up tents, Aasheim said. Dispatchers got two more calls, including one from a man who said a bear bit the leg of his daughter's boyfriend.
At 3:50 a.m., park officials went through the campground to advise campers to get into their cars. A half-hour later, the dead male was discovered at a campsite. Authorities then evacuated the campground, sending campers to nearby hotels.
It was not immediately clear how many people were in the campground at the time.
The same campground was the site of a 2008 attack in which a grizzly bear bit and injured a man sleeping in a tent. A young adult female grizzly was captured in a trap four days after the attack and transported to a bear research center at Washington State University in Pullman.
The 10-acre Soda Butte campground has 27 sites for tents and recreational vehicles in Gallatin National Forest, some five miles from the northeastern entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
It is located just off the mountainous Beartooth Highway about 125 miles southwest of Billings.
"It is a populated area for bears, not just grizzly bears but black bears," Gallatin National Forest spokeswoman Marna Daley said.
The campground, which is run by the U.S. Forest Service, has been closed, as well as two other nearby campgrounds, Daley said. Forest Service officials will consider closing more campgrounds after consulting with state wildlife officials leading the investigation, she said.
___
AP Writer Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report.
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kknowlton
southeast Idaho, formerly IL/WI border
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There's another thread on this too. Sad, but occasionally it does happen, even when people are following the rules (which evidently they were in this case.)
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2cyber71
Pennsylvania
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When I hit that bear with my trailblazer....Vicki wanted to stop....i said "no way, I'm not getting near a injured bear with those claws"
Look here!
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F-TROUP
VISALIA, CALIF
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Don't think hiding in your car will make you safe, as a bear can pop a window in seconds. Had the bears up in Sequoia NP could read Coleman on the box in the back seat.
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FloraBama
NW Florida
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This is a good lesson for all of us that camp in Bear country. You just never know what is learking in the dark so be prepared. National Parks now allow firearms for concealed permit holders in many states and a "bear gone wild" is a good reason to carry.
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dodge guy
Bartlett IL
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Sad to hear, but remember... we go to thier house, they don`t come to ours! well sometimes they do, but that`s because they were pushed out of thier area. with that said we have to watch out for ourselves in thier home!
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better than a good day at work!
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chuckster11
Idaho
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Actually, environmental activism has spread the range of grizzly bears in the last few years. For decades grizzlies were pretty well restricted to Yellowstone Park or far north in Montana and Canada.
It is debatable if allowing these animals to range freely throughout our National Forest is a good idea. Humans have become "habituated" to use this land freely over the years and I am not sure anyone can make a completely logical statement about who has priority on this land.
This particular area is rather close to Yellowstone so you might expect this kind of deadly encounter but as the grizzly ranges further from the Park, this sort of thing is bound to get more frequent.
To automatically assume that the human should move or is fault is, I think, a mistake. I'm not sure what the answer is but humans surely have a natural "right" to occupy land as legitimately as does a dangerous, unthinking predator.
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Oakman
MO
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I no longer tent camp, but I still enjoying taking long hikes in the backcountry so I carry UDAP bear deterrent with me. Bear spray doesn't help though if the attack occurs while you're sleeping. That bear attack had to be terrifying.
* This post was
edited 07/29/10 06:19am by Oakman *
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Steveo35
Ohio
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2cyber71 wrote:When I hit that bear with my trailblazer....Vicki wanted to stop....i said "no way, I'm not getting near a injured bear with those claws"
Look here!
LOL at image of OP and wife doing CPR on the bear! 
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Steveo35
Ohio
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FloraBama wrote:This is a good lesson for all of us that camp in Bear country. You just never know what is learking in the dark so be prepared. National Parks now allow firearms for concealed permit holders in many states and a "bear gone wild" is a good reason to carry.
As a gun owner, I'm always in favor of discharging a firearm in a campground. 
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