Grizzly bear mauls backpacker in Wyoming

Grizzly bear mauls backpacker in Wyoming

MEETEETSE, Wyo. — A distress sign initially thought to be from a crashed plane led searchers to a backpacker who’d been mauled by a grizzly bear in a remote Wyoming wilderness, according to sheriff’s officials.

No plane or helicopter had crashed but a crew making ready to look for the Francs Peak space on Monday uncovered the signal gained by the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Middle was from a particular locator beacon, the Park County Sheriff’s Workplace said in a assertion Tuesday.

The 68-year-previous Buffalo, New York, male on a multi-day backpacking journey had activated the system just after getting severely mauled by the grizzly.

A helicopter staff observed the gentleman and flew him to an additional helicopter at rendezvous place. That helicopter flew him to a medical center in Billings, Montana.

Sheriff’s and Wyoming Match and Fish Division officers have not disclosed the man’s name or healthcare issue.

The male had bear spray but the bear surprised him and he didn’t have time to use it, the sheriff’s assertion mentioned.

The region about Francs Peak, a 13,000-foot summit in the Washakie Wilderness southeast of Yellowstone Nationwide Park, is identified grizzly habitat.

The Yellowstone region spanning portions of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho is household to additional than 700 grizzly bears. Grizzlies in that region have killed at minimum 8 men and women considering the fact that 2010.

The Air Power Rescue Coordination Middle, headquartered at Tyndall Air Power Foundation near Panama Metropolis, Florida, coordinates inland lookup and rescue efforts in the lessen 48 states.

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