Bear-attack victim identified

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – The National Park Service has identified the Montana man who was attacked by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday as a photographer and author who writes about bears and who has survived a bear attack once before.

Jim Cole, 57, of Bozeman, suffered severe injuries to his face in Wednesday’s attack, officials say. He told park rangers he had been attacked by a sow grizzly bear with a cub.

Cole is being treated at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. A spokeswoman there said Cole was listed in fair condition Thursday.

According to a Park Service release, Cole is a photographer and author who has published books on grizzly bears in Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. The release states that he was injured by a grizzly bear in Montana’s Glacier National Park in September 1993. Cole was acquitted in June 2005 of willfully approaching within 100 yards of bears in Yellowstone. Cole said he came upon the bears inadvertently, snapped a few pictures and backed away slowly.

The Park Service said Cole was hiking alone, off-trail along Trout Creek in Hayden Valley, in prime grizzly habitat, when Wednesday’s attack occurred. The agency said Cole was carrying bear pepper spray, but that it’s unclear whether he was able to use it against the sow.

“The type of injuries that were described to me were the type you would see with clawing,” Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said Wednesday.

Cole told rangers he was attacked while taking photos. He said he walked two to three miles to seek help.