Posted: Aug 5, 2010 7:06 AM by Jodi Brooks
Updated: Aug 5, 2010 2:14 PM
ALAMOSA, CO - Authorities are still looking into the possibility that a photographer may be to blame for last week's deadly bear attack at a Cooke City campground near Yellowstone National Park.
There have been claims that a photographer put out food in hopes of getting better shots of wildlife. Ronald Singer, a student at Colorado University-Denver, was one of those injured by the grizzly bear.
Singer had some pretty severe injuries, but says he's not afraid to head out camping again. His stitches will be out in a couple weeks, and as far as he's concerned this will all be behind him.
Even though he was attacked by a grizzly while sleeping last week in his tent at the Soda Butte Campground, Singer says he has no problems sleeping.
"The tent starts shaking, flies two to three feet, and this thing comes and grabs a hold of my leg," he explained. Singer, 21, says he fought off the bear as she was biting him. "I sit up and I look at it and I start punching it."
Montana wildlife officials say that they've received a few calls from people suggesting that a photographer was baiting wildlife with food in recent weeks to get good pictures.
"If that's true - that's not very good of a camera man because we got pretty good pictures just from the road," Singer commented.
State officials have confirmed that they are investigating the claims, but say that they have not yet identified a single person who may be responsible.
The grizzly was put down, and like her three cubs, she was underweight. Montana wildlife officials say the bears' weight alone does not explain last week's attack.
Feeding wildlife is a misdemeanor in Montana. But it's possible in this case a charge of felony criminal endangerment could be applied if a photographer is to blame for the grizzly attack that also injured a Canadian woman and took the life of a Michigan man.
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