Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks, In today’s episode we travel back to YellowStone
National Park.
Why?
you ask.
Well, this case is linked to the Brian Matayoshi attack we last posted in a very curious way.
As we have discussed in prior videos, YSNP is seated on the world's largest batholith
volcano, which is overdue for an eruption.
The area is riddled with earthquakes several times a year and it is this fact that creates
its unique geography and marvels.
Visitors from around the world travel here during when the park is open to view the sites
such as Old Faithful Geyser, The Upper Geyser Basin, Morning Glory Pool, Mud Volcanoes and
the wildlife strewn Lamar Valley.
These are only a few of the attractions at the park, many of which can and do claim your
life if you are not careful.
John Wallace was a 59 year old man from Chassell, Michigan.
He visited YSNP the last weeks of August of 2011 and basked in the warm weather and majestic
sites at every turn.
Since the park doesn’t allow firearms, and John neglected to purchase bear spray, he
was vulnerable but still excited to see the park.
John had sat through a safety lecture and announced that he didn’t need the class
because he was a grizzly bear expert.
On August 25th John struck out around 7:30 AM by himself on the Mary Mountain Day Hike
Trail, passing many grizzly bear warning signs on his way.
This trail is a known grizzly bear hotspot and is closed from March to June each year
due to bears feeding on winter killed bison.
John enjoyed hiking alone and it isn’t uncommon for hikers to traverse the trails alone, or
at least share them with the local wildlife.
John's friends and family considered him a very experienced backcountry traveler and
knowledgeable about hiking safety.
They also stated that he loved Yellowstone and that he felt like he was in Heaven whenever
he visited.
John hiked and inhaled the pure mountain air for about five miles, and came upon a stand
of lodgepole pines overlooking a small meadow.
He decided to sit down for a snack and refreshments.
He carefully dug around in his day pack for his snack and pulled out a fruit drink and
then relaxed for a break.
The trail is not extremely difficult but has its rewards in the solitude nature offers
to aficionados.
John was surrounded by grass on the edge of a meadow and felt at ease.
Unbeknownst to John, he was positioned within a few hundred yards of two winter killed bison
carcasses that area bears were feeding from.
He suddenly heard an approaching animal and probably expected an elk or a bison, both
common sights in the area.
The animal was a grizzly bear, and yet worse, a sow with a single cub.
He hurried to his feet as the bears approached casually.
He made some noise and tried to frighten the bears off but they stared at him and continued
their stalk.
The evidence indicates that the sow began to attack John and apparently took him to
the ground.
John used his right forearm to try to fend off her jaws by putting it between the sow
and him, but that only gave her a handle from which to control him.
She bit him several times on his hand and arm as well as clawed him all over his upper
body.
As he rolled over to protect his vital areas she bit and clawed him in the back as well.
The attack took some time to kill the man before the bear and her cub began feeding
on the man’s corpse.
The bears ate their fill from John's corpse and resumed browsing for Whitebark pine nuts,
another food source that draws them to the higher elevation of the trail.
The next day a young lady and her father were hiking up the Mary Mountain trail when she
noticed some birds circling an area just before the trees converged on the trail ahead.
She carefully climbed over a tree which fell across the trail and saw a plastic bottle
with pink fluid in it on the ground.
She looked around and saw what she thought was a backpack and as she approached she saw
boots and legs laying across the trail.
The upper body was covered with duff and dirt.
John’s refreshments and lunch container along with his rain jacket were sitting nearby.
They had found what remained of John Wallace.
Authorities were notified and John’s remains were recovered.
They collected tracks of bears around the attack scene and noticed a pair of tracks
from a sow and cub had blood in their tracks, John's blood.
The authorities set up traps to try to collect DNA samples from the local bear population
to track down the bears involved in John’s attack.
After catching and sampling DNA from several bears in the area, the bears were released
with radio collars until the test results were returned.
The plan was to use the collars to locate any bears of interest.
Several weeks later, a sow and her cubs were captured and she was identified as the bear
that was present at John’s mauling scene.
The track identifiers taken from the attack scene matched this sow and one of her cubs.
The 250 pound sow was euthanized on October 2nd, 2011 and the cubs were placed with the
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana.
This sow was also the bear tagged and responsible for the horrible bear attack a month early
on Brian Matayoshi.