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 ...
Does’nt =Doesn’t
The next time I came to visit, we ate him. (the bull, not my uncle).
That reminds me of a story I had not thought about in decades. When my Dad was a little child, his job was feeding the chickens. One day a mean rooster attacked and chased my Dad crying from the hen yard. He told my grandmother. Guess who came to the house for dinner that night? Revenge is best served batter-fried.
I’m not qualified to answer your questions about Japanese intrusion, but have seen it in everyday Americans as well. Part of it is the erosion of our culture, erosion of respect, and a decline in moral values. I’m sure it has crossed many, if not all, cultures over the past decades.
Everyone has an ‘What’s in it for me’ attitude, and has learned not to care about the harm they may do if it meets their own immediate needs (or beliefs). And our education system has failed us on giving our students a well-grounded, and well-rounded education where we have the ability to think about issues, and make better choices in our lives; whatever the situation.
Agreed! One more screwup by a dingaling human costs the life of an animal just functioning normally.
I was just going to mention about a rooster that chased me out of the stock pen when I was 10yo... That rooster was as big as me (and 100x more aggressive)!!
CC
Next thing you know, some photographer is ate.
When my boy had just learned to toddle, and the snow melted in the spring, he went out in the yard with us. The rooster saw him walking for the first time and it came over, eyeballing him sideways. Then it puffed up and came for him. The rooster was dead with a wrung neck in seconds. My wife looked at me with surprise. I said there is no need to have a mean rooster.
Those dummies are NOT invited to come on my next student field trip!
Here is my own bear picture. I was hiking through Roxborough State Park in CO with my friend Laura when we noticed a couple of people paying attention to a small group of bushes. We went to check it out. It was a BEAR!! A sub-adult black bear, not just a cub. It was fortunately very busy eating some kind of berries in the bushes and paying no attention to us. I snapped a hasty picture (below) and told everyone that bears could run about 30 mph, could catch right up to you and maul you. I told them to clear way back, which they did. Otherwise, I did not want to be in a situation where I was unarmed, un-bear-sprayed, with nothing between me and a bear.
“...very busy eating some kind of berries in the bushes...”
A great pic of how wildlife is often encountered. We often see them fleetingly, barely through the thicket, or with poor light for photography.
No, no, no. I’ve seen pictures. They always pose magnificently!
Great couple of stories. I still have trouble grasping the fact people don’t give credence to, or even know, that wild animals will protect themselves and their own. Even non-threatening behavior can provoke an attack if the animal “feels” threatened by your presence.
There was an article in an outdoor magazine about 15 years ago about the Japanese climbers on Denali. The rangers marveled at their stupidity and lack of preparation.
One climber had fallen into a crevasse; stuck well with his arms pinned at his side. After two days he figured he was going to die, so decided on dying the quicker way. Since he could not move any of his limbs, he chewed his tongue up, thinking that he would bleed to death. He was rescued about an hour later and still lives.
I think it was “Outdoor” magazine; if anybody finds it, let me know.
We just returned from doing Glacier (where we spotted a grizzly guzzling huckleberries about 200 yard from us) and Yellowstone.
At Yellowstone, a woman walked to within 25 yards of a bull bison scratching his rump on a tree. She was standing in the middle of road, which caused all sorts of other idiots to pull off and get out of their cars. About two dozen people moved closer to the bison, snapping his image.
I yelled out for people to be very careful, mentioning the bull runs of Pamplona, but none of that registered with them as they stood there taking pictures.
The bull moved away from the tree, swung around, and started snorting at everyone. Even that didn't give them pause that they could be gored in a split second. Lucky for them he turned around and walked back into the brush.
I told my boy that Darwinism works on all animals, including humans, and in this case the result was a draw.
I especially like the signs at Yellowstone, where warning is given not to wander off the walkways and into the geo-thermal areas. Those mention folks being scalded to death and badly burned. As if anyone needs such warning, but the stupidity of humans is boundless.
“They were stopped, and waiting for a few, including a Mother and her calves to cross the road right in front of them, when an idiot tourist family in a minivan behind them.....
......opened the van and sent their CHILDREN outside, to POSE with “cute baby buffalos”.”
I can top that story. Had a friend who worked at Kennedy Space Center. One day while going in the gate he saw a family taking photos at the KSC sign at the entrance. An alligator, sleeping, was sunning itself in front of the sign.
Mamma goes up to the gator and plops her three-year-old som on the gator’s back, so daddy can get a cute picture of the boy, riding an alligator in front of the KSC sign.
The gator is startled by this, so startled it takes off into the swamps near the sign, leaving junior on the ground in front of the sign. (Of course junior, falling on his little pumpkin head in his toss off the gator, sets up a howl like a Civil Defense siren.)
Then mamma and pops pick up junior, walk over to the gate guard, and *complain* to him about the alligator’s rude behavior. They are too busy reaming the guy out to listen to him explain how lucky they were that the alligator chose to take off rather than gobble down junior as a gator goodie.
Darwin Award candidates. Bet they were Democrats.
Not to oversimplfy, but it's the difference between something that yours, and something that's mine.
For instance, I know plenty of people who beat the heck out of Rental cars, while driving their own like a little old lady on Sunday morning.
Too late. They already procreated. :-)
And, BTW, you win. What IDIOT puts their kid on top of an alligator? I mean, short of Steve Irwin, who was short a few brain cells, anyway.
“Darwin Award candidates.
Too late. They already procreated. :-)”
Not if they let their progeny get eaten by an alligator through sheer stupidity. Has to qualify in some way.
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