{"id":9886,"date":"2016-01-14T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T01:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=9886"},"modified":"2016-01-14T22:59:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T05:59:05","slug":"billings-mans-mauling-death-spurs-release-of-safety-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/01\/billings-mans-mauling-death-spurs-release-of-safety-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Billings man’s mauling death spurs release of safety advice"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Beart\"

Following basic safety guidelines can help keep hikers safe in grizzly bear country, according to a new report on\u00a0the latest fatal bear attack in Yellowstone National Park.<\/p><\/div>\n

CODY, WYO.\u2014There\u2019s no guarantee of safety when hiking in grizzly country, but following a few basic safety guidelines can reduce the odds of having a bad encounter with a bear. Unfortunately, too many hikers either don\u2019t know those basics, or ignore the advice that experts offer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the key findings from a report released Thursday<\/a> by a panel that investigated the death of Lance Crosby, who was killed in August by an adult female grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n

Crosby, 63, from Billings, was found dead less than a mile from the Elephant Back Loop Trail in a popular off-trail area near Yellowstone\u2019s Lake Village.<\/p>\n

The adult female that attacked Crosby was captured and euthanized<\/a>, while her two female cubs were captured and sent to an Ohio zoo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Park officials said last year that a key factor in their decision to kill the mother grizzly was that \u201ca significant portion\u201d of Crosby\u2019s body was eaten by the bear, and then cached\u2014hidden or covered\u2014behavior that signals the bear planned to return later to resume feeding on the body. Such behavior is abnormal in typical defensive attacks by female bears defending their cubs.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> details extensive DNA and other physical evidence confirming that the adult female was responsible, and that the incident may have taught her cubs to view humans as a food source.<\/p>\n

The report, compiled by nine state and federal bear biologists based in Wyoming and Montana, found that Crosby failed to follow several key recommendations for staying safe in grizzly country.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Crosby was a long-term seasonal employee of Medcor, the company that operates three urgent-care clinics in the park. He had worked and lived in Yellowstone for five seasons, and was an experienced hiker. But at the time of the fatal attack, he was hiking alone and without bear spray, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Crosby\u2019s family and friends \u201cstated that he often hiked alone, often hiked off-trail, and never carried bear spray,\u201d the report said, and that he \u201cbelieved carrying bear spray would make him \u2018complacent,\u2019 and that he thought it better to remain vigilant and rely on his senses to avoid confrontations with bears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because he was not carrying a camera, phone or camping gear, Crosby was likely out for a short day hike, the report states.<\/p>\n

Similar to how some drivers don\u2019t buckle their seat belts on short trips, quick hikes and brief walks in the woods are common scenarios when even experienced naturalists often fail to take along bear spray or follow other recommended precautions.<\/p>\n

A recent survey of 7,770 people day-hiking in Yellowstone National Park found that only 14 percent carried bear spray.<\/p>\n

The review panel that investigated Crosby\u2019s death noted that state and federal land managers engage in a wide range of bear safety outreach and education efforts, but \u201cadherence to these safety practices is generally low, indicating that current messaging is not successful at changing peoples\u2019 actual behavior in bear country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel recommended that land and wildlife managers continue working to improve their education programs, \u201cwith the goal of achieving greater adherence to these safety practices by all recreationalists, and among day-hikers in particular, who have a low level compliance with bear safety procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report recommends five key grizzly country safety guidelines:<\/p>\n

\u2666 Be Vigilant: Keep en eye out for bears, tracks, scat and other warning signs, especially when hiking off-trail.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Carry Bear Spray: It can be effective in stopping aggressive bears during surprise encounters, provided you keep it accessible and know how to use it.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Make Noise: Alerting bears to your presence can help avoid surprise encounters.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Don\u2019t Run: You won\u2019t outrun a charging bear, and running can trigger a chase response.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Hike in a Group: Hiking in groups of three or more, or traveling by horseback, will greatly reduce the risks of bear attack.<\/p>\n

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9818 or ruffin@yellowstonegate.com. Reprinted with permission from YellowstoneGate.com<\/a>,\u00a0an\u00a0independent, online news service about Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and their gateway communities.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CODY, WYO.\u2014There\u2019s no guarantee of safety when hiking in grizzly country, but following a few basic safety guidelines can reduce the odds of having a bad encounter with a bear. Unfortunately, too many hikers either don\u2019t know those basics, or ignore the advice that experts offer. That\u2019s one of the key findings from a report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":9887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3654,3656,3655,3653,119],"class_list":["post-9886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-grizzly-bears","tag-lake-village","tag-lance-crosby","tag-medcor","tag-yellowstone-national-park","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}