MEETEETSE, Wyo. — A distress signal at first thought to be from a crashed plane led searchers to a backpacker who’d been mauled by a grizzly bear in a distant Wyoming wilderness, according to sheriff’s officials.
No airplane or helicopter had crashed but a crew planning to look for the Francs Peak area on Monday figured out the signal gained by the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Middle was from a particular locator beacon, the Park County Sheriff’s Place of work said in a assertion Tuesday.
The 68-12 months-previous Buffalo, New York, male on a multi-day backpacking trip experienced activated the device immediately after being severely mauled by the grizzly.
A helicopter crew observed the man and flew him to a further helicopter at rendezvous level. That helicopter flew him to a medical center in Billings, Montana.
Sheriff’s and Wyoming Activity and Fish Section officials have not disclosed the man’s name or clinical situation.
The gentleman experienced bear spray but the bear astonished him and he didn’t have time to use it, the sheriff’s assertion stated.
The spot all-around Francs Peak, a 13,000-foot (4,000-meter) summit in the Washakie Wilderness southeast of Yellowstone Nationwide Park, is regarded grizzly habitat.
The Yellowstone region spanning portions of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho is property to much more than 700 grizzly bears. Grizzlies in that place have killed at the very least eight individuals since 2010.
The Air Force Rescue Coordination Heart, headquartered at Tyndall Air Pressure Base in close proximity to Panama City, Florida, coordinates inland research and rescue endeavours in the decreased 48 states.
