Yellowstone couple’s fleeing may have prompted bear attack

BILLINGS – Newly released recordings of 911 calls from hikers who came upon a fatal bear mauling in Yellowstone National Park reveal a harrowing scene in which the hikers heard a bear’s roar and a couple screaming before the man went silent and the woman continued to yell for help.

Authorities released the recordings Tuesday along with a report from investigators that concluded the couple’s screaming and running possibly triggered the mauling of 57-year-old Brian Matayoshi.

“It sounded like they were trying to scare the bear,” an unidentified male hiker told the 911 dispatcher. “I heard a man’s voice making loud, like, um, like animal noises. It sounded like he was trying to scare the bear and I heard a woman screaming. It sounded like she was scared.”

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, park officials said the Matayoshis responded correctly when they encountered the grizzly along the park’s popular Wapiti Lake Trailhead. But following a two-month investigation, bear researchers and wildlife agents concluded the couple’s harried, 173-yard retreat after they encountered the bear may have played a role.

“What possibly began as an attempt by the bear to assess the Matayoshis’ activities became a sustained pursuit of them as they fled running and yelling on the trail,” the investigation team report said.

The couple was not carrying bear spray – mace-like canisters of pressurized pepper spray that park officials advise hikers to carry for self-defense.

The attack took place about 1 1/2 miles from the park’s popular Wapiti Lake picnic ground, where the Matayoshis had set out for a hike at about 8:30 a.m. after arriving in the park a day earlier, according to the investigators’ report.