TICKER: Horror as hiker killed by grizzly bear after taking photos of animal for eight minutes

A hiker in Alaska’s Denali National Park photographed a grizzly bear for at least eight minutes before the bear mauled and killed him in the first fatal attack in the park’s history, officials said Saturday.

Investigators have recovered the camera and looked at the photographs, which show the bear grazing and not acting aggressively before the attack, Denali Park Superintendent Paul Anderson said.

A state trooper shot and killed the bear on Saturday, and investigators will examine its stomach contents and use other tests to confirm it’s the animal that killed the hiker.

The hiker was backpacking alone along the Toklat River on Friday afternoon when he came within 50 yards of the bear, far closer than the quarter-mile of separation required by park rules, officials said.

‘They show the bear grazing in the willows, not acting aggressive in any form or manner during that period of time,’ Anderson said.

Investigators have identified the man but won’t release his name until they’ve notified his family. They said he’s a U.S. citizen but declined to release any other information about him.

Officials learned of the attack after hikers stumbled upon an abandoned backpack along the river about three miles from a rest area on Friday afternoon. The hikers also spotted torn clothing and blood. They immediately hiked back and alerted staff park.

Rangers in a helicopter spotted a large male grizzly bear sitting on the hiker’s remains, which they called a “food cache” in the underbrush about 100 to 150 yards from the site of the attack on Friday.

There’s no indication that the man’s death was the result of anything other than a bear attack, investigators said, adding that it’s the first known fatal mauling in the park’s nearly century-long history.

‘Over the years, and especially since the 1970s, the park has worked very diligently to minimize the conflict between humans and wildlife in the park,’ Anderson said.

‘We have some of the most stringent human-wildlife conflict regulations in the National Park system, and I think those are largely responsible for the fact that there hasn’t been a fatal attack.’

Park officials said they don’t believe other registered backpackers are in the immediate area. That portion of the park is closed but other wilderness areas remain open, officials said.

Prior to receiving a permit to hike in the area, all backpackers in the park receive mandatory bear awareness training that teaches them to stay at least a quarter-mile away from bears, and to slowly back away if they find themselves any closer. Investigators confirmed that the hiker had received that training.

Denali is located 240 miles north of Anchorage, and is famously home to Mt. McKinley. It spans more than 6 million acres and is home to numerous wild animals, including bears, wolves, caribou and moose.

The attack was discovered Friday around 5:30 p.m., when a trio of other hikers came upon a lone backpack lying along the Tolkat River about three miles from a rest area.

‘Upon further investigation, they saw evidence of a violent struggle, including torn clothing and blood,’ a Park Service spokesman told The Anchorage Daily News.

The backpackers alerted park officials, who launched a helicopter around 8 p.m., the Alaskan paper reported.

The helicopter-borne rangers discovered the backpack about 30 minutes later, but were forced to return empty-handed because of the coming nightfall.

Daily Mail

One comment

  1. GOD HAVE COMPASSION.KIND OF, WAS HE A ZOOLOGIST TO HAVE PROBABLY WANTIN TO CARRY OUT SOMETNZ

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