Posted: Aug 17, 2010 7:50 AM by Erin Yeykal
Updated: Aug 17, 2010 8:50 AM
BOZEMAN - An investigation report has been released, but officials still do not know what caused a female grizzly bear to maul three campers at the Soda Butte Campground outside Yellowstone National Park last month.
The 10-year-old to 15-year-old female grizzly was ridden with parasites and stressed to care for her three yearlings, but this does not explain why she would have attacked the campers, killing one, investigators said in a report released Monday.
The investigation team was made up of representatives from the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department, National Park Service, University of Calgary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
"It is important to recognize that nutrition can be a contributing factor to stress in wildlife but in and of itself, nutritional stress is not a sufficient explanation for predatory behavior by a bear on humans," the report states.
Click here to read the full report.
"In summary, the attack involving an adult female grizzly bear and her three yearlings on three separate people in the Soda Butte Campground on 28 July 2010 cannot be clearly explained or understood," the report concludes.
Investigators determined that the adult female grizzly consumed an exclusive plant-based diet in the past two years. An analysis also showed that she had not consumed human-related foods, like garbage or pet food, and that she was not conditioned to human food.
Investigators also determined that the adult female grizzly did not have rabies.
Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was killed and two people were hospitalized when the female grizzly attacked them through their tents on the night of July 28. The first victim was accompanied in his tent by another person and a dog, while the other two victims, including the one that was killed, were alone in their tents.
The bear was captured the day after the attacks at the Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City and later euthanized. The three yearlings are being held at Zoo Montana in Billings.
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