14 DAY TRIAL // Four people have been injured in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem following grizzly bear attacks, reports say.
The injuries were reported after two attacks that took place only 30 minutes apart. One of them was called in at Yellowstone National Park, while the second one was registered in the Island Park, Idaho area.
Four hikers were at the park at roughly 11:30 a.m. on Thursday when they spotted a bear. They were hiking on the Cygnet Lakes Trail and they reached an area north of Yellowstone Lake.
According to JH News and Guide, the group found a bear cub on the trail and they were charged by the mother bear.
“They saw the cub first and then that sow was right there. [...] The area this occurred at is very dense forest that has regrown since 1988. That type of environment would make it difficult for them to see at a very great distance,” Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash explains.
The group had bear spray with them, which they deployed and were able to escape with only minor injuries.
Two canisters of bear spray were used during the one-minute incident, and it saved the hikers' life.
“They had bear spray and the end result is they walked out of the trailhead,” the spokesman adds.
Two people were wounded and one of them was taken to a hospital. However, they could both continue on their path and reach the trailhead without help and none is currently hospitalized.
The Cygnet Lakes Trail and other areas near Mary Mountain have been closed off to visitors after the encounter.
The two people injured on Bureau of Land Management property in Idaho were contractors doing habitat research work.
They were charged by a grizzly in Shotgun Valley west of Island Park Reservoir. They were both bitten, one on the thigh and backside and the other incurring bite marks to his hands. They were treated at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, where they arrived by themselves.