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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Grizzlies are not docile animals, but a particularly aggressive attack that killed a hunting guide and injured his client intrigues wildlife officials.
A female who was with her cub killed Mark Uptain of Jackson Hole and injured Corey Chubon of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, after cutting an elk that Chubon had shot with an arrow a day earlier.
Unlike other grizzlies who often surprise and sometimes attack elk hunters in the Yellowstone National Park area, these bears did not appear to be after the meat and were not caught by surprise.
The Friday attack in the Teton Desert east of Grand Teton National Park has unfolded in an area where Wyoming officials are attempting to persuade a judge to allow grizzlies to live. be hunted legally for the first time in decades.
Environmentalists say grizzlies in the Yellowstone area, who lost their federal protection last year, are not large enough to support the hunt. A US judge in Montana has postponed the hunts that were due to begin this month in Wyoming and Idaho, as he considers this argument.
The Friday attack shows how a hunter can carry both a gun and a powder bear and still become hunting.
"It's something we do not see very often or do not hear about often, where a bear only attacks an individual and not a defensive behavior," Hovinga said. .
Five staff from the Game and Game Department trapped the young with elk meat slain on Sunday, and the mother grabbed the bear. Two officers slaughtered the sow and the officials euthanized the baby.
"It could be a little different because his yearling was there and caught in the trap, yet it was a little aggressive," Hovinga said.
Officials are planning DNA tests to verify that the same bears are responsible for the attack, but they are almost positive according to Chubon's description. At the scene of the attack, they found a worn-out bear bomb, which wildlife officials often advocate as the best defense – in some cases, better than a firearm – against a grizzly bear who charges.
Chubon attempted to throw a handgun at Uptain during the attack, but he failed, he told WESH 2 News in Orlando, Florida.
"In a way, the grizzly m let me go and accused Mark again, and that's when I made the decision to run for my life." Chubon told television on Sunday.
He credited the actions of Uptain to repel the bear with saving his life.
Chubon called for help from his cell phone. He was transported by helicopter to a hospital with severe scrapes and bites, but no lethal injuries.
Conflicts between grizzly bears and humans in the Yellowstone area became more frequent as the species emerged from near-extermination in the early 20th century, although deadly human attacks are still rare .
In 2017, wildlife managers counted 273 human-grizzly conflicts in the northwest Wyoming, southeastern Montana and eastern Idaho. Nearly two-thirds of these attacks involved cattle.
Wildlife officials killed at least nine grizzlies last year because of cattle raids. Hunters acting in self-defense killed 15 grizzlies.
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Associated Press reporter Matthew Brown contributed to the report from Billings, Montana.
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Follow Mead Gruver on https://twitter.com/meadgruver
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