Last Wednesday, Brian Matayoshi, 57, and his wife Marylyn were hiking a back country trail at Yellowstone National Park and encountered a bear. Reports say that the first time they saw the bear she ran away, but when their paths crossed again, the bear, a female with cubs, according to National Park Service rangers, attacked.
Brian Matayoshi was bitten and clawed by the bear repeatedly. Then the bear latched its mouth onto Marylyn Matayoshi's backpack, hoisting the woman up and throwing her to to the ground. She lay still until the bear left.
By the time help arrived, Brian Matayoshi had died of his wounds. He was the first bear fatality in the park since 1986.
A ranger on the scene at the lake said he believed the bear to be a young grizzly, but Ranger Kerry Gunther, who saw video footage of the bear, said he is certain it was a black bear. That species is smaller and typically less aggressive than grizzlies, but is known to occasionally attack humans.
Despite the ample opportunity for humans to cross paths with bears, Gunther said there is usually only one bear-related injury at Yellowstone each year. In the park's 140-year history, he said, six people are known to have been killed in bear attacks.
Gunther differentiates between defensive and predatory attacks by bears. If a bear shows signs of hunting and eating humans, Gunther said rangers will attempt to track down and euthanize the animal. But rangers don't typically kill a bear - like the one that attacked the Matayoshis - for defensive behavior.
That decision to let the bear live has drawn both praise and criticism from the public. But, so far, Gunther said he is not aware of anyone canceling their stay at the park as a result of the mauling.
While bears are obviously dangerous, you are much more likely to be attacked by a ruminant, like a bison or a moose. Bee stings cause the greatest number of deaths in the U.S. directly caused by animals - Allergic reaction to bee venom kills 53 people each year, and auto accidents caused by deer kill 130 people per year, while bear attacks kill about one person every two years in the USA.
And bears, bison and bees aren’t the only problem. Olympic National Park in the state of Washington is urging hikers not to urinate along back country trails to avoid attracting mountain goats who lick urine deposits for salt.
The advice is part of a plan to help hikers avoid aggressive goats like the one that gored a Port Angeles, Wash., man to death last October.
Back country campers are advised to urinate 200 feet away from trails to prevent the trails from turning into "long, linear salt licks."
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