Two hikers in Yellowstone National Park were seriously injured when they were attacked by a bear earlier this week.
The number of bears involved, as well as their species, has not been released by park officials.
But Yellowstone is home to both black bears and grizzlies, and the attack happened on a trail — Mystic Falls, near Old Faithful — that was closed until 2024 to reduce the possibility of conflicts with grizzlies, according to the WyoFilelocal non-profit news agency.
The two injured passengers, who may be siblings, were found by another passerby and taken to a nearby hospital, where one is listed as critical and the other in critical condition, according to a local newspaper, Jackson Hole News & Guide.
Hikers were the first people injured by bears in Yellowstone in 2026, i National Park Service said the service in a news release.
In September 2025, a 29-year-old man was hiking alone on the Turbid Lake Trail when he surprised a bear. When he tried to use his bear spray, he received “significant but non-life threatening injuries to his chest and left arm,” according to officials.
The last reported bear attack in Yellowstone was in 2015, park officials said, when an elderly female with two cubs killed a hiker.
Grizzly bears, which can kill and eat large game such as elk and moose, often weigh twice as much as black bears, have large claws and are very aggressive.
Black bears are very common in California. But despite being featured on the state flag, wild grizzlies have not been seen in the state for nearly a century. The last known wild bear in California was shot and killed in the 1920s.
Despite recent incidents, bear attacks in Yellowstone remain uncommon. Since the park was established in 1872, bears have killed eight people, according to park statistics. In comparison, 125 visitors drowned and 23 died from burns after falling into the park’s hot springs.
Even seeing a grizzly in the wild is still a rarity in the lower 48 states. Historians estimate that before the arrival of large numbers of European settlers, about 50,000 grizzlies were from the American West. Residents consider these large animals as a serious threat to people and livestock and hunt them aggressively, driving the population in the United States to less than 1,000 animals.
Conservation and rescue programs over the past few decades have helped the species to thrive again. Today, wildlife agency officials estimate that there are approximately 2,000 grizzlies 48 down, concentrated in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Still, few things baffle hikers more than the possibility of a grizzly encounter. For years, wildlife experts have advised people who are attacked by black bears to fight back, while recommending that anyone facing a large grizzly should lie still and play dead.
The direction has evolved a bit in recent years, though not by much. A National Park Service website advises: “If you surprise a black/brown bear and it attacks or attacks, don’t fight back! Only fight back if the attack continues.”
If so, officials advise, “Fight with everything you’ve got!”
In a press release after this week’s attack, park officials offered additional advice, including: carry bear spray and know how to use it, travel in groups of three or more and never run away from a bear.
It’s surprising that sitting at home and watching animal planet didn’t make the list.
