Man Heard Bones Crunch During Bear Attack

Recovering From Wounds To Both Arms, Hands; Bear Hit As He Slept In Tent Near Yellowstone

(CBS/AP)  An Oregon man says he'll definitely go camping again even though a bear attacked him as he slept in a tent near Yellowstone National Park last week.

Steven Bartley, 59, of Springfield, was at a campground in Montana, about five miles from the northeast entrance to Yellowstone when the bear approached his tent early Thursday.

Bartley said he received puncture wounds to both hands, some deep lacerations, and a broken bone below a thumb that required surgery at West Park Hospital in Cody, Wyo.

Bartley told The Billings (Mont.) Gazette that he and a friend were on their way to Gillette, Wyo., for an international motorcycle rally when the attack occurred.

"Apparently," Bartley told co-anchor Julie Chen on The Early Show Monday, "a large grizzly bear, maybe a rogue of some sort, attacked me through my (three person) tent. ... I was trying to get out of the tent and screaming and yelling. At that point the bear, as I reached up to unzip the fly to get out, the bear took a bite of my right hand. And I began swinging and hitting it as hard as I could and screaming in panic.

"At that point, the tent was collapsed around me. I kind of felt like I was enclosed in a sleeping bag. It then took my (left) hand and also took it in its jaws. So I began hitting it again with my right hand as hard as I could and screaming and yelling to get out.

"It went back to my right hand another time. That's when I could actually hear bones crunching.

"I'm just continuing to scream and yell and hit it as hard as I can, not actually even being able to see the bear. For some reason it quit. And I was rescued out of the tent by other campers."

Bartley added that he "couldn't see out because of the rain fly. And I kept yelling, 'Is anybody here yet? Is anybody here yet? I need help. I've been bitten by a bear.' And I could hear voices outside finally say, 'We're here, it's OK.' My understanding is nobody actually saw this bear that attacked me."

"It was just over so fast," Bartley told the Gazette. "I really feared for my life."

Bartley, a former Colorado law enforcement officer who now works part time for the Springfield parks and recreation district, told Chen he would "absolutely" go camping again, explaining, "It's all about knowing how to camp and how to deal with your own safety and what you do."

Doctors tell him he should get back 80 - 100 percent use of his right arm, the one that was more badly damaged, but it will be six-to-eight weeks until he knows for sure.

Careless food storage sometimes is a factor in conflicts between wildlife and people, but not in this case, according to Melissa Frost, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Bartley's campsite was "spotless," she said.

"He didn't have any food in his campsite outside of a bear-proof container," she said. "He didn't cook at his campsite. The campground overall was very clean."

Given the bear's behavior, wildlife officials believe it was accustomed to people and their food, Frost said.

[carpediem111]

I was one of the campers there. My friend and I woke up after hearing his screams and about and hour and half later saw the bear again really close to where the attack had been.

[smurfcrusher]

Should''ve brought the 9-iron. The bear would look pretty silly with a club sticking out of his skull.

A titanium driver would be too expensive and overkill.

[smurfcrusher]

"If you don''''t believe it, go into the Western woods and play with the mountain kitties. They will love you, with or without seasoning."

Posted by yellow651


Hahahahaha!!! Seasoning..... Catnip?? :D

[patriot12436]

Some of these comments are funny,but from a serious side, the animal is always on the losing end. He will probably be hunted down and killed. Why wasn''t he afraid of people. People like to get near the animals without knowing what they are doing, feed them giving the animal a false sense of security and the idea it is an easy place to get food. These animals were here first, yet we continue to take more and more land away from them, they have to learn to live around us. It is so sad for the animals.

[nothappyatall]

johnny1285 this just in too:

AP "A call to SMOKY THE BEAR was not immediately returned by press time."

[sociald63]

lemme check the scoreboard: mankind 0 .. mothernature 1

[sashenka1]

Camping or any activity in an animal shared habitat carries risk. Reduce risk by being aware of your surroundings, knowing how what when & where about the activity, and enjoy *** in the outdoors.

[osiod9]

In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear conflicts, the Montana Department of Fish and Game is alerting hikers, hunters, and campers to take extra precautions. We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears, and suggest carrying pepper spray in case of an encounter.
Be on the lookout for fresh signs of bear activity, and recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear droppings. Black bear droppings are smaller and consists mostly of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings contain little bells, and smell like pepper.

[azmka]

howzilla:

That was FUNNY! Now that I know the whole story, I''m on Mr. B.Ear''s side!

[yellow651]

It''s OUR world, but they like to eat us anyway. Don''t be stupid, everything we have we took from the wild, regardless of where we live. It is ours because we can defend it. If you don''t believe it, go into the Western woods and play with the mountain kitties. They will love you, with or without seasoning.

[whiskyrocker]

It''s there world.

[jwlawman]

"Bear spray"? It''s a good bet that the "bear spray" vendors also sell "human spray" to bears. These kinds of people almost always work both sides of the street.

[shanev137]

Should have had a 44 magnum.

[nssherlock1]

It seems like a small price to pay. Every once in a while, we have to toss the bears an old guy or a 6 year old just to remind everyone else that most bears aren''t of the TEDDY variety.

[ronjjj157]

I sure hope that "bear spray" is something you spray on the outside of tent and not while you are inside a closed waterproof tent that would prevent the bear from being repelled.

[johnny1285]

THIS JUST IN...

AS A RESULT OF THE YELLOWSTONE PARK BEAR ATTACK, NEITHER YOGI BEAR OR BU-BU WERE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT...

;)

[jijalagi]

Bears are totally out of control. They have more rights than us, they destroy everything in their path, they%u2019re protected by our government, they overpopulate at will and we have to pay for it. ... I%u2019m sorry, that%u2019s illegal aliens. Never mind.

[Gary Kempf]

IOWEIGN

Very Good!

[tawpdawg11]

These bears are IMPOSSIBLE to get along with. We''ve been trying to appease them for years with laws protecting their rights and rules to avoid human/bear confrontations.

If they were Iranians we''d eradicate them and be done with the problem!

Why can''t we start treating them the way we do other human beings?

[tawpdawg11]

You''re not supposed to feed the bears and have food around. Then a bear comes along and its pi ssed off because you don''t have any food around and won''t feed it.

Yer danged if ya do and danged if ya don''t.