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June 5, 2003
Decoy tent awaits 'bouncing' bear
By MIKE STARK, Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau
There's a lone, empty tent standing at a deserted backcountry campground near Yellowstone National Park's Grebe Lake.
No one's sleeping in the tent and no one's sleeping in the campground. The tent is a decoy, meant to help park officials track down a bear that's been hopping on tents recently.
The latest report is that a bear bounced onto an unoccupied tent Sunday night at a campsite near Grebe Lake, which is just west of Canyon Junction. Park officials closed the campground Tuesday and put up the decoy tent.
"They'll check and see if (the tent's) been disturbed," said Cheryl Matthews, a park spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Pebble Creek campground and the West Thumb Geyser Basin remain off-limits to visitors after recent bear encounters.
On Sunday, a grizzly pounced onto an unoccupied tent at Pebble Creek, crushing the tent and rolling on it before leaving the area. No one was injured.
Video footage of the incident indicates that the bear could be the same one park staff tried to capture last year after several reports of a tent-smashing bear chased out of backcountry campsites near Lamar.
Pebble Creek campground remained closed while park officials try to capture the bouncing bear. There was no sign of the grizzly Wednesday. It's unlikely, though still unclear, that the bear is the same one that attacked the tent near Grebe Lake.
On Monday evening, a bear, presumed to be a grizzly, approached a woman on the boardwalk at West Thumb Geyser Basin.
The woman fell to the ground and was bitten by the bear twice, but neither bite broke the skin. The bear was chased off by the woman's husband and the woman declined medical treatment.
The geyser basin remains closed while park officials investigate the incident.
It's not unusual for visitors to have encounters with grizzlies in Yellowstone, but the tent-hopping episodes are a little out of the ordinary, Matthews said.
It has happened before, though.
In the summer of 1999, a 3-year-old grizzly ambushed several tents before being removed from the park.
The first incident was in June of that year, when the bear brushed against two tents at Indian Creek campground and damaged a third. In July, the bear squashed and ripped three tents in two incidents. He harassed two more tents in August.
No one was injured in any of the incidents.
Park officials put up a decoy tent next to a bear trap at Indian Creek campground in late August 1999. The grizzly promptly pounced on the dummy tent and walked into the trap.
The bear was spared from being put to death after he was accepted at the Wildlife Way Station, an animal refuge in Southern California.
How did park officials know it was the same bear on the tent-tearing tantrum?
DNA from bear hairs taken from each of the tent incidents was matched to the grizzly that wandered into the trap.
Somehow that detective work seemed especially fitting in Yellowstone: the microorganism that helped lead to DNA "fingerprinting" was found in one of the park's hot springs in 1966.
Decoy tent awaits 'bouncing' bear
By MIKE STARK, Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau
There's a lone, empty tent standing at a deserted backcountry campground near Yellowstone National Park's Grebe Lake.
No one's sleeping in the tent and no one's sleeping in the campground. The tent is a decoy, meant to help park officials track down a bear that's been hopping on tents recently.
The latest report is that a bear bounced onto an unoccupied tent Sunday night at a campsite near Grebe Lake, which is just west of Canyon Junction. Park officials closed the campground Tuesday and put up the decoy tent.
"They'll check and see if (the tent's) been disturbed," said Cheryl Matthews, a park spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Pebble Creek campground and the West Thumb Geyser Basin remain off-limits to visitors after recent bear encounters.
On Sunday, a grizzly pounced onto an unoccupied tent at Pebble Creek, crushing the tent and rolling on it before leaving the area. No one was injured.
Video footage of the incident indicates that the bear could be the same one park staff tried to capture last year after several reports of a tent-smashing bear chased out of backcountry campsites near Lamar.
Pebble Creek campground remained closed while park officials try to capture the bouncing bear. There was no sign of the grizzly Wednesday. It's unlikely, though still unclear, that the bear is the same one that attacked the tent near Grebe Lake.
On Monday evening, a bear, presumed to be a grizzly, approached a woman on the boardwalk at West Thumb Geyser Basin.
The woman fell to the ground and was bitten by the bear twice, but neither bite broke the skin. The bear was chased off by the woman's husband and the woman declined medical treatment.
The geyser basin remains closed while park officials investigate the incident.
It's not unusual for visitors to have encounters with grizzlies in Yellowstone, but the tent-hopping episodes are a little out of the ordinary, Matthews said.
It has happened before, though.
In the summer of 1999, a 3-year-old grizzly ambushed several tents before being removed from the park.
The first incident was in June of that year, when the bear brushed against two tents at Indian Creek campground and damaged a third. In July, the bear squashed and ripped three tents in two incidents. He harassed two more tents in August.
No one was injured in any of the incidents.
Park officials put up a decoy tent next to a bear trap at Indian Creek campground in late August 1999. The grizzly promptly pounced on the dummy tent and walked into the trap.
The bear was spared from being put to death after he was accepted at the Wildlife Way Station, an animal refuge in Southern California.
How did park officials know it was the same bear on the tent-tearing tantrum?
DNA from bear hairs taken from each of the tent incidents was matched to the grizzly that wandered into the trap.
Somehow that detective work seemed especially fitting in Yellowstone: the microorganism that helped lead to DNA "fingerprinting" was found in one of the park's hot springs in 1966.
