Posted: Jul 30, 2010 11:12 AM
Updated: Jul 30, 2010 11:14 AM
COOKE CITY - Wildlife officials captured a mother grizzly and two of her three cubs after one person died and two others were when the bear went on a late-night rampage through a campground near Yellowstone National Park earlier this week.
48-year-old Kevin Kammer of Grand Rapids, Michigan was killed in the attack while two others, Deb Freele and Ronald Singer of Alamosa, Colorado were taken to the hospital,
The recording of the 911 call made after Wednesday morning's deadly attack has been released and show that everyone being remarkably calm in light of what had just happened.
Click here to listen to the 911 recording. Below is a transcript.
911 Operator 2: "9-1-1 emergency, what is the location of your emergency?"
Caller 2: "My daughter's boyfriend got bit by a bear, just a little bit ago. There's another lady down there, screaming. I don't know if she got bit or not."
Operator 2: "And it was a bear?"
Caller 2: "And it was a bear. We're sitting right in front of Super 8 right now."
Operator 2: "OK, you can just stay at the Super 8 and if we need to get a hold of you we can get a hold of you there."
Caller 2: "OK what do I do with the guy that's bit in my car?"
Operator 2: "You can just hang out there. We're gonna page out an ambulance to come and check him out. And then we're gonna get rangers on the scene to take out this bear. If anything else worse happens give me a call right back."
Meanwhile, state wildlife officials are now testing the DNA of a captured grizzly bear to confirm if it was the animal that attacked the three campers at the Soda Butte campground. The sow, estimated to weigh 300 to 400 pounds, was lured into a trap and left in place overnight to attract her young.
Thursday morning two of her year-old cubs were inside adjacent traps and officials are still trying to trap a third cub.
As of Thursday afternoon the third 18-month old cub still remains missing. FWP officials say they are confident the killer bear was the one they have captured because it came back to the site of Wednesday morning's rampage. A common behavior of grizzlies is to return to the area where they've found food.
The female grizzly, believed to be involved in the latest attack, shows no outward signs of sickness or starvation that might explain its unusual behavior.
"These kinds of Incidents are so rare. We have to use each of these as a learning opportunity. Incidents like this in the past have taught us how to respond, what kind of protocol to be using. These cases can be a valuable learning tool," said Andrea Jones with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Right now DNA tests on the bear will be done, and processed similar to evidence in a murder trial. FWP officials expect the DNA tests to be complete within the next couple of days.
Regardless of the outcome of the tests, officials say the bears will not be relocated anywhere near the Cooke City area.
This is not the first bear attack to hit the Soda Butte Campground. The last incident was about two years ago.
"What I got attacked by was a 350 pound female bear at 3 a.m. and I can't think of anything more scary in my life," commented 2008 attack victim Steven Bartley.
A bear mauled the Springfield, Oregon man, crushing several bones in his hand as he struggled to fight it off. Surgeons used stitches and pins just to hold his right thumb in place.
"I wouldn't sleep in a tent in bear country for anything," Barley explained.
Statistics show that since 1900, grizzlies or black bears have killed 108 people and on average, bears hurt about 35 people each year in the United States.
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