Shepherd recovering after grizzly mauling
By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
September 17, 2009
A grizzly bear mauled a sheep herder in Sublette County early Monday morning after the man reportedly heard the sow and her cubs attacking the flock.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials declined to release the victim’s name. The Sublette County Examiner identified the man as 46-year-old Marcello Tejeda, of Rock Springs, an employee of W&M Thoman Ranches.
Zack Turnbull, bear management officer for Game and Fish, said the man heard his guard dogs barking about 2 a.m. while he was in the Upper Green River Basin.
“He went out in the sheep with a flashlight and encountered a sow with cubs and was attacked by the sow for a very brief period and was injured,” Turnbull said. “He was seriously injured at the time.”
The man was transported to an Idaho hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, Turnbull said. Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, did not immediately answer an inquiry about the man’s condition.
“We talked to him the other day and he’s doing well,” Turnbull said.
Turnbull called the incident a “perfect storm for a bear injury.”
“It was a bear feeding with cubs and getting disturbed at close quarters,” he said. “[She was] protecting her young and protecting her food source.”
“This is a sequence of bad decisions that resulted in a horrible incident,” Turnbull said. “That’s why we encourage people to make noise or not try to run bears off of carcasses. This is fairly natural, what this bear did. I don’t think this bear is any more of a human threat than any other bear on the landscape.”
Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke said the incident is still under investigation and that wildlife managers are attempting to capture the bear.
“Game and Fish has begun control actions,” he said. “To my knowledge, they haven’t caught the bear yet.”
