Here is the link to the article about a Grizzly killing a hiker in Yellowstone:

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110707/NEWS01/107070304/Griz-sow-kills-man-Yellowstone-Park?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Another link to the story.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/06/man-killed-by-grizzly-bear-in-yellowstone-national-park/?test=latestnews

Unusual for a bear to challenge two humans but she was defending her cubs according to the TV news.

Actually there are LOTS of reports of bears going after 2 people. Attacks are rare on groups of four or more. I know three people that were charged / mauled by bears and they were all in pairs. This is sad and I feel deeply for the man's family but the bear was doing what it naturally felt was right for its family.

Yellowstone grizzly bears are a bit more defensive than the average bear... they have learned from the extirpation and ongoing collaring/tagging/etc. You see a similar phenomenon with migrant bears in Katmai National Park. Most resident Katmai NP bears are pretty mellow but occasionally one will come down from an area of Katmai Wilderness where hunting is allowed, and they will flee at the sight of a human. That's a learned behavior. Definitely unnatural. A bear like that will be at high risk to attack defensively if surprised.

Perhaps unusual is too strong of a word but the statistics show that ~90% of bear attacks are against singles and the rest doubles. The numbers for triples or larger are miniscule and barely even register.

Hey Folks,

In general, EJ.s correct here. But what a mess this is below:

Grizzly attacks 7 teens in Talkeetna MountainsTEENAGERS: Two suffer life-threatening injuries on extreme survival course.
A grizzly bear sow with a cub attacked a group of teenagers on a month-long survival-skills course Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains, causing severe injuries to two of the hikers, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The bear pounced as the seven hikers were crossing a creek about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Read more ..

Cheers

Carl

Yeah that's unbelievable. For a defensive attack, that's over the top. I wonder if she had a nearby food cache in addition to the cub. Even so, it'd still be extreme. I wonder if she has a previous negative encounter with hunters or something like that.

Another interesting aspect of the 7 hikers attack, is that this was a survival training trip, and they had training to play dead in the event of such an attack. But when confronted with a real bear charging, they screamed and ran. The bear went back and forth among four of the hikers repeatedly attacking them, and did not stop until one of them fought back kicking the bear.