Two Yellowstone hikers seriously injured in suspected grizzly bear attack
A pair of hikers in Yellowstone National Park were seriously injured in a bear attack earlier this week.
Yellowstone officials believe A female grizzly bear with two or three cubs less than a year old was involved.
The park is home to both black bears and grizzly bears, and the attack occurred in Mystic Falls near Old Faithful; this road was closed until 2024 to reduce the possibility of conflict with grizzly bears. WyoFileA nonprofit local news source.
The two injured hikers, a 15-year-old man and the other a 28-year-old man, were discovered by another hiker and airlifted to a nearby hospital. According to another local news source, one was stated to be in serious condition and the other was critical. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
Hikers became the first people injured by bears in Yellowstone in 2026. National Park Service the service said in a press release.
In September 2025, a 29-year-old man apparently surprised a bear while hiking alone on the remote Turbid Lake Trail. According to authorities, the bear suffered “serious but non-life-threatening injuries to his chest and left arm” while trying to use the spray can.
The last fatal bear attack in Yellowstone occurred in 2015, when an adult female grizzly bear with two cubs killed a lone hiker, park officials said.
Grizzly bears, which can kill and eat large prey such as elk and elk, are often twice as heavy as black bears, have larger claws, and are much more aggressive.
Black bears are quite common in California. But despite being featured on the state flag, wild grizzly bears have not been seen in the state for nearly a century. The last known wild grizzly bear in California was shot and killed in the 1920s.
Despite recent incidents, bear attacks in Yellowstone are still extraordinarily rare. Bears have killed eight people since the park was founded in 1872, according to park statistics. By comparison, 125 visitors drowned after falling into the park’s boiling hot springs, and 23 people died from burns.
Even spotting a grizzly bear in the wild is still relatively uncommon in the lower 48 states. Historians estimate that approximately 50,000 grizzly bears ranged across the American West before the arrival of large numbers of European settlers. Settlers viewed the giant predators as a serious threat to humans and livestock and hunted them aggressively, reducing the population in the contiguous United States to fewer than 1,000 animals.
Conservation and recovery programs over the past few decades have helped revive the species. Today, federal wildlife officials estimate there are close to 2,000 grizzly bears in the lower 48, concentrated primarily in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Still, few things bother hikers more than the possibility of encountering a grizzly bear. For years, wildlife experts have advised people attacked by black bears to fight back, while anyone confronted by a much larger grizzly should lie still and play dead.
Guidance has improved somewhat, although not dramatically, in recent years. A. National Park Service website he advises: “When you surprise a grizzly/grizzly bear and it charges or charges, do not fight back! Only fight back if the attack continues.”
In this case, the authorities say, “Respond with everything you have!” he advises.
In a press release following this week’s attack, park officials offered more advice, including carrying bear spray and knowing how to use it, hiking in groups of three or more and never running from a bear.
Interestingly, staying at home and watching Animal Planet was not on the list.
