Tourists crowded around a black bear in Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, and at one point a man taking cellphone video of the bear practically got face-to-face with it.
The day before, two brothers ages 14 and 28 were severely injured when they were mauled by at least one grizzly on the Mystic Falls Trail near Old Faithful.
The mob gawking at the black bear at Lamar Canyon on Tuesday might have mistakenly thought that black bears aren’t that dangerous, retired biologist Gary Gaston told Cowboy State Daily.
“They all have teeth,” said Gaston, who stayed in his vehicle at a safe distance and took video of the man getting dangerously close to the black bear.
‘Not Far Enough’
Gaston frequently visits Yellowstone to watch and photograph wildlife, particularly bears.
What he saw when the cinnamon-colored black bear appeared near the roadside was an example of terrible human behavior, he said.
It started out as a typical bear jam, with people stopping to admire the bear, he said.
In Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the rule is that visitors must stay back at least 100 yards from bears and wolves.
That rule was blatantly ignored in this case, Gaston said.
“There was a crowd that was staying back, maybe 40 yards, still not far enough,” he said.
Five Feet Away
One man in particular kept getting closer and closer while taking cellphone video of the bear, which was trying to mind its own business and “just eating grass,” Gaston said.
At one point, the bear and the man were separated only by the hood of a vehicle that Gaston thinks was the man’s car.
Then as the bear got closer to the car, the man could no longer see it directly, but that didn’t stop him, Gaston said.
“He leaned right over the hood of the car and was maybe 5 feet from the bear at that point,” he said.
He also saw another man holding a child in his arms about only 50 yards away from the bear.
The scene was so “absurd” Gaston said he had to leave because he couldn’t watch anymore. As far as he knows, the bear kept its cool and didn’t attack anybody.
Black Bears Aren’t Teddy Bears
When compared to grizzlies, some uneducated people might think black bears are docile and less dangerous, Gaston said.
But that’s not a safe assumption to make.
“There are actually more black bear attacks annually than grizzly attacks,” he said.
That’s partly because there are many more black bears in more places than grizzlies, but black bears are nothing to be trifled with, he said.
“Look at what’s happening with bears in Japan,” he said.
In Japan, there has been a surge of conflicts between people and Asiatic black bears, including some fatal attacks. The government has responded by training civilian response teams armed with shotguns to shoot bears when necessary.
There’s also been trouble in Wyoming and Colorado, with several black bear attacks being reported in recent years.
In Sheridan County in 2024, a female black bear, apparently trying to protect her cubs, chased a man up a tree and attacked him. The man was treated at a local hospital for his injuries.
Black bears can be fearsome predators.
In 2025, a black bear in a full sprint chased down and killed a mule deer doe in full view of the Sylvan Pass highway in Yellowstone.
‘Just People Getting So Excited’
Crowd control around dangerous wildlife is an abiding problem in Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks.
Kerry Gunther, National Park Service bear management biologist, told members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee that when park rangers on Tuesday tried to get a crowd to back away from grizzlies and wolves in Yellowstone, tourists started yelling at the rangers to leave.
Gaston said instances of people crowding wildlife might not be so much about stupidity as they are about hubris and excitement.
“It’s just people getting excited, wanting to get a photo or video of something to brag about,” he said. “They know better, they just don’t care.”
He added that cuts to park personnel haven’t helped.
“In my opinion, it’s because we don’t have as many rangers as we used to,” he said.
“A few years ago, you wouldn’t have been able to do that (get within 5 feet of a black bear) because a ranger would have been there to stop it,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
