Yellowstone National Park staff have had a busy summer already dealing with bear/human confrontations in campgrounds, backcountry campsites, and along roadsides. Last month, a black bear bit into an occupied tent at a backcountry campsite along Little Cottonwood Creek and bruised a woman’s thigh. However, the bite did not break the skin due to the tent fabric and thick sleeping bag.
Rangers suspect that this might have been a bear that gained access to human food in this same area in previous years. Over subsequent days, rangers set up a decoy tent at the campsite to determine if the bear would continue this behavior. With rangers present, the bear returned and aggressively tore up the decoy tent. The bear was killed on-site on June 11th. In early July, campers left food unattended while packing up gear at a backcountry campsite along the Lamar River Trail, allowing a black bear to eat approximately 10 pounds of human food.
Campers who visited that same campsite the following evening had numerous encounters with the same bear. It was also destroyed on July 10th. Since July 18th, a black bear at Indian Creek Campground has caused property damage to tents and vehicles in its search for human food.
Visitors are reminded to store food and scented items properly. Once a bear acquires human food, it loses its fear of people and may become dangerous.
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