Officials at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming have said that they would not be capturing or killing a grizzly bear that mistakenly pepper sprayed itself while threatening a hiker.
The reason for this decision is that the animal may have been attempting to defend a pup.
On Signal Mountain, a grizzly bear was threatening a hiker and bit into the hiker’s bear-repellant can. It shot out repellant, sending the bear running for cover. The 35-year-old hiker from Massachusetts played dead and then managed to get to safety and spent Sunday night in the hospital.
Since the assault blocked the road and route leading to Signal Mountain’s 7,700-foot (2,300-meter) peak, there has been no announcement on when they will reopen. These kinds of restrictions are common after any bear assaults on Yellowstone area public land each year.
Officials decided not to hunt the bears since it was their typical reaction to being stumbled upon. This decision was also in line with assaults that do not include raids on campsites or consuming food that people have left out, which are activities that make bears more dangerous.
According to the statement, rangers weren’t acquainted with the bears involved in the assault on Sunday afternoon despite tracking and studying many of the roughly 1,000 bears in the Yellowstone area.
The victim was armed with bear-repellant spray and had made noises in the forest to warn the bears, but the assault nevertheless occurred.
Afterward, when speaking with rangers, the guy recounted his encounter with a little bear that was alone, got spooked, and ran away. An enormous bear charged at him in his peripheral vision as he grabbed for his bear repellent.
Tragically, he lost control of his bear spray and collapsed to the ground.
The bear attacked him and miraculously bit into the pepper spray can, causing it to explode and scare the bears away.
After reaching a place with mobile phone reception, the guy dialed 911 for assistance. He was lifted to a neighboring hospital by a combination of a helicopter and an ambulance.
Based on the man’s account, the investigating team believes the smaller bear was really an older baby of the grizzly mother bear that attacked. Mother bears stay with their young for two or three years after birth and fiercely protect them.
Park authorities withheld the identity of the victim. It was anticipated that he would recover completely.
