Posted on 08/28/2012 7:50:07 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Officials have reviewed photos taken by a San Diego man of a grizzly bear in Alaska's Denali National Park just before the animal killed him.
Richard White, 49, was standing 50 to 100 yards away from the bear that ultimately mauled him Friday, according to images found on his camera, park spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said. He is the first person to die in a bear attack in the history of the park, which covers 4.7-million acres.
Hikers are typically advised to stay at least 300 yards away from a bear, McLaughlin said.
The bear, which weighed an estimated 600 pounds, was shot and killed by a state trooper as he was defending the spot where White's remains were found.
The incident began Friday afternoon when three hikers found a camera, a backpack and evidence of a violent struggle, including torn clothing and blood, along the Toklat River. They reported what they found to park rangers, who sent a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft to search for White, officials said.
Rangers in the helicopter determined that the bear had dragged White's remains from a flat expanse along the river to a more secluded brushy area 150 yards away, where it stored its food.
Investigators determined the bear had killed White after reviewing the bear's stomach contents, the images on the camera and other evidence, officials said. The pictures showed the bear foraging in the brush along the Toklat River, McLaughlin said.
"For a good [part] of that time, the bear was unaware that anyone was there," McLaughlin said. "There were no dramatic signs of aggression."
Park officials imposed an emergency closure prohibiting all hiking and camping in that portion of the park and others nearby until further notice.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Were links to the photos at source? I couldn’t find them.
Some of the comments on that link show how dumb the American public has become.
I don't believe that this is true. An individual was attacked and killed there while I was living in Alaska (82 to 86). We had been camping in the vicinity of where the attack occurred the previous day.
"And this little piddy had none"
And then, tragedy struck.
I guess he forgot to yell “I LOVE YOU” to the bear!/S
Not a tragedy.
.. “And then Nature struck.”
Our cavemen ancestors - those that survived to breed at least - knew better than to try to “live peacefully” with grizzly bears and panthers.
Come to think of it, grizzly bears and panthers/cougars/mountain lions were deadly threats even through the mid 1850’s in most places in the US and Canada.
I do know one thing, Miss Tami Rivera doesn’t have the sense to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel. And there are several others there that fit in that group.
Always go camping with a fat person who smokes.
Was the area actually a park at the time?
50 to 100 yards can be covered by a grizzly bear in no time.
The bear was just being a bear!
"May I have the hiker please...Pittsburgh rare?"
“Our cavemen ancestors - - knew better than to try to live peacefully with grizzly bears and panthers.”
That’s because they didn’t have the money-grubbing Walt Disney to indoctrinate children into believing all nature is benign, except for mankind, of course.
I think it was very early in our history that the phrase, “discretion is the better part of valor”, came into common usage.
I love this photo, I remember it from a year ago - and having a bunch of neo-Neanderthals pile on me.
Yes, animals are dangerous and can hurt/kill us, but there is also this side of them, and it is also real -
I just love this picture.
I read her comments, and I agree with her to the extent she is disappointed that the bear has to be killed because a human entered its kill zone. I understand the taste of blood argument, though.
Frankly most of the comments I read seemed pretty sane; man takes pretty pics of cute little bear, next thing you know Mr Bear is opening him up.
I accidentally came upon a bear about 50 feet away in N Ga and will never forget it. If he wanted me, I was dead. I shook for about 30 minutes afterwards.
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