How Tragically Refreshing!
Posted By Randy on September 22, 2011
(AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)
In my 2 June 2010 article titled Contemplations on a Really Bad Idea, I talked about the abysmally stupid practice of “trail running” and its singular ability to enhance a practitioner’s likelihood of being assaulted by wildlife. If you haven’t read it, please do before going further.
This morning, thanks to my friend Jim Keating, I found a headline posted yesterday on the Missoulian website that read Running, yelling may have triggered fatal mauling. While it didn’t involve “trail running” as discussed in my article cited above, it reports the fatal mauling by a Grizzly sow of 57 year old Brian Matayoshi who was hiking with his wife Marylyn in Yellowstone National Park when they encountered the bear and her cubs.
While it is not my intention here to trivialize the fact that a man lost his life, nor to discount the horrific effect this event will forever have on the dead man’s widow and any other surviving family, I feel the event, as reported, discloses a few issues that are deserving of comment in hope they will save the lives of people and the animals they interact with in the future.
First, the couple spent time lingering to take photographs at dangerously close distances from grazing bears. They were not equipped with bear spray, and the way events played out supports that their preparation – physically and mentally – for the possibility of an up close encounter with a bear was non-existent.
Next, while successful 911 calls were made by people who heard their cries for help, it is instructive to note that Marylyn Matayoshi’s cellular phone log showed 21 unsuccessful attempts to call 911 herself. A mobile phone is an important piece of survival equipment, but only if it’s part of a more comprehensive preparedness plan based on the Rule of Three – First, have a plan. Second, have a backup plan. Third, have a third plan because the first two won’t work.
The Missoulian article states that,
...following a two-month investigation, bear researchers and wildlife agents concluded the couple’s harried, 173-yard retreat after they encountered the bear may have played a role.
“What possibly began as an attempt by the bear to assess the Matayoshis’ activities became a sustained pursuit of them as they fled running and yelling on the trail,” the investigation team report said.
And, to my mind most refreshingly of all,
Park authorities later decided to let the bear remain free because it had no prior run-ins with humans and was reacting as might be expected to a surprise encounter.
As a dog behaviourist who routinely gets called in to investigate “aggression” cases, I find this last to be a breath of fresh air in a world that increasingly persists in immediately and unquestioningly bringing down a sentence of summary execution on any animal that dares to bite or kill a human, no matter how stupidly provocative that human might have been behaving at the time. Tragic and unnecessary, Brian Matayoshi paid with his life. To my mind, the debt is paid.
I also read the story on Jim Keating’s MAAJAKI site, it’s a sad story that maybe could have been prevented with better preparation/mindset as you mentioned. Thanks for this, and the “trail running” blog–sobering truths.
Right on Randy!
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[…] It remains to be seen how this will play out, but it’s refreshing to note that news reports clearly state that none of the injuries suffered by the two women involved were inflicted by the Bear, but rather by their reactions to what it was doing; i. e., following them. Descriptions of their actions in the wake of first noticing the Bear’s presence imply, at least to me, that its interest was most likely due to what they were doing; i. e., running, screaming, and bleeding. In this, the incident is reminiscent of another incident I wrote about in my 22 September 2011 article titled How Tragically Refreshing! […]