Grizzly Encounter: Bear Spray Saves Couple In Yellowstone National Park
There were some scary moments when a couple scouting fishing spots was charged by a grizzly in Yellowstone National Park. It happened Saturday in the Lamar River area.
"They unfortunately surprised an adult grizzly that was feeding on a carcass and that grizzly charged them and came within about nine feet of them," says Park spokesperson Jody Lyle "Both of the people, the man and the woman, were able to deploy their bear spray and get the bear to leave the area."
But Lyle says the bear wasn't quite done yet. "It came back and charged them a second time, and actually came back in contact with the original cloud of bear spray they had done the first time and then it left again."
Lyle says the two were not injured, and were able to get back to their vehicle and report the incident to a ranger.
She says the couple did everything right, and their experience is a success story about carrying bear spray. "Most years we have between thirty and forty human-bear encounters in the back country," she says, "and maybe five to ten incidents where people are actually charged by bears each year so this was not rare or unusual, but it is a great outcome when people are carrying the proper safety equipment, they use it properly, and the incident ends without injury."
Park officials identified the couple as John and Lisa Vandenbos of Bozeman, Montana.