Grizzly bear

HELENA, Mont. -- An investigation into the second of two fatal grizzly bear attacks last summer at Yellowstone National Park was unable to conclude if the same bear was responsible for both deaths, a report released Monday said.

BOISE -- When Connie Funkhouser saw the fresh bear track heading into the Caribou-Targhee National Forest on her recent run, she turned around.

Grizzly bear encounters are up dramatically this year in Island Park, along the Snake River near the boundary with Yellowstone National Park. Funkhouser, who lives in a subdivision on the Henrys Lake flats below Sawtelle Peak, takes no chances.

A few years ago she came upon a grizzly sow and cub on her favorite trail. Her neighbor, Richard Paini, was bitten by a grizzly bear in September while hunting.

"I always wear my bear spray on my hip and carry my gun in my hand," Funkhouser said. "I always go running with my two German shepherds." The spray is for a charging bear, she said. The gun is to call for help.

A 39-year-old hunter killed by a wounded grizzly bear yelled out to draw the 400-pound male bear toward him in an effort to keep it from attacking his young hunting partner, the man’s family said.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A Yellowstone National Park official says authorities won’t try to capture a female grizzly bear that killed a backcountry hiker because it was trying to defend her cubs when she was surprised by the man.

Park spokesman Al Nash said Thursday the mauling of a 57-year-old man was a purely defensive act by the bear. He said Yellowstone typically does not try to capture or remove a bear in what he calls a wildlife incident.

Wednesday’s attack occurred about 1-1/2 miles up a popular backcountry trail and was the first fatal grizzly attack inside the park in 25 years — but the third in the Yellowstone region in just over a year.