Renowned Wyoming wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen said he’s upset after watching a Yellowstone National Park bear management ranger jump the gun and use nonlethal “cracker” shotgun rounds to haze grizzlies and wolves away from the roadside while people were watching them.
The crowd that showed up included a group of seven European tourists, whom Mangelsen befriended.
They showed up after the hazing, likely missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a clear view of wolves, Mangelsen said of the Wednesday incident near Alum Creek.
Another avid Yellowstone wildlife photographer, Julie Argyle, told Cowboy State Daily that she wasn’t at the scene but heard accounts and complaints about the hazing.
Though she understands the disappointment of visitors missing a chance to see bears and wolves, she said she supports park rangers hazing wolves or bears that get within 100 yards of roadways because it protects both people and wildlife.
Park officials say a young grizzly bear was hazed away because it got to close to a roadside crowd that had gathered to watch the animals.
‘I Couldn’t Sleep For Two Nights’
Mangelsen said the hazing irritated him, and he felt terrible for the Europeans who missed out on a chance to get a clear view of the wolves and bears.
“All those people spending hundreds of thousands and traveling thousands of miles just to see a wolf only to have some asshole ruin it because he can!” he wrote in a text message to Cowboy State Daily.
One of the tourists, Frenchman Arnaud Marchais, told Cowboy State Daily that he was crestfallen to show up at the location, where he’d been told there were wolves less than 200 yards from the road, only to find out they’d been scared away about two hours before.
“I couldn’t sleep for two nights in a row because of that, because of what I missed,” he said.
He said he had traveled to Yellowstone primarily to see wolves and ended up catching only glimpses of some from a distance.
“It was nothing so spectacular as this one (that he missed),” Marchais said.
He added that he was considering coming back to Yellowstone next March, but the hazing has made him somewhat doubtful over whether it would be worth it.
Miserable Weather, Great Wildlife
Mangelsen said the predators were drawn by an elk carcass about 175 yards from the highway.
A large bear laid primary claim to the carcass, but seven wolves were also nearby, perhaps trying to decide whether to challenge the grizzly for first dibs on the buffet.
“One by one, the wolves approached the grizzly, who didn’t really care,” Mangelsen said, adding that it was amazing to watch from an appropriate distance away.
“We were hoping when the pack of seven gathered they may challenge the bear who stole their meal, and it could have been really great,” he said.
Miserable weather didn’t deter an enthralled crowd, he said.
“There were probably over 100 people observing and photographing the scene in high winds, 28 degrees, and spitting snow,” Mangelsen said.
‘Merely Smelling The Carcass’
About the time that a bear management ranger showed up, a “young 3-year-old small bear was circling at 100 yards,” Mangelsen said.
Park rules state that there must be at least 100 yards between people and large predators such as grizzlies and wolves.
Mangelsen said that at one point the bear might have been as close as 85 yards from the crowd.
However, he still tried pleading with the ranger to bend the rule for the sake of letting people enjoy the scene.
“I asked him not to shoot at the young bear; he was merely smelling the carcass and was not interested in crossing the highway or going near the people,” Mangelsen said.
Nevertheless, the ranger fired two cracker shells from a 12-gauge shotgun.
Cracker shells launch a small explosive charge designed to explode in midair and scare away wildlife in problematic situations.
“The young bear fled, as did all the wolves,” Mangelsen said. “They all ran off, and they didn’t return."
He was still there when the Europeans showed up, only to be bummed out to learn they missed seeing the wolves.
Park Service: Bear Was Too Close
The young bear was hazed because it got too close to the crowd, Park Service spokeswoman Linda Veress stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
"On Oct. 27, a Yellowstone bear technician used a cracker shell to haze a subadult grizzly bear approximately 50 yards from visitors along a road. The shell was fired into the air, not at the bear, and caused it to move away. A larger adult grizzly remained on a carcass approximately 163 yards away. The action was taken to protect visitors and wildlife,” she stated
‘5-Feet-Away’ Bear Photos
Argyle said the Park Service is right to haze bears and wolves away if they cross the 100-yard line, even if tourists and photographers get annoyed.
“Generally, if they’re hazing a bear, it’s for good reason,” she said.
With so much at stake, the Park Service can’t afford to make exceptions to the 100-yard rule, she said.
“Sadly enough, it’s often the visitors who are causing the animals to get hazed” by trying to press in too close, Argyle said.
In another recent incident, a bear had to be hazed because there was an elk carcass about 8 yards from the road. Even though park rangers removed the carcass, it left behind a blood stain that attracted the bear, she said.
And people stopped to gawk at the bear, Argyle said.
“People just have to get their ‘5-feet-away’ photo of a grizzly,” she said.
Even though that wasn’t the case on Wednesday, her understanding was that the bear really was getting too close to the road, a situation that could have ended badly for the bear, humans, or both.
People can get mauled, and bears that get too close to highways run the risk of getting struck by vehicles, she said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
