88-year-old Lamar Underwood, former editor in chief of Sports Afield and Outdoor Life magazines, knows a thing or two about bears. The wildlife expert is the author of the book Incredible Bear Attacks: Terrifying Tales of Savage Encounters between Bears and People. Speaking with People, he recounted a terrifying ordeal involving a 25-year-old and a grizzly bear.
Sadly, there was very little the young adult could have done to save her life, according to Underwood. "She only made one mistake," Underwood said. "She went alone."
In the book, Underwood documents the horrifying death of 25-year-old Swiss tourist Brigitta Fredenhagen. She died at Yellowstone National Park in July 1984. Although she was an experienced hiker, that did not save her from the grizzly. The hiker had never removed all her food and hid it in a tree to prevent attacking a bear.
Grizzly Bear Attacks
After going missing, officials found her remains scattered across the campground.
"It was gruesome," Underwood said. "Bears kill through a combination of physical blows with their claws and chomping at you with their teeth. They will absolutely rip you apart."
The grizzly expert says that a bear attack is imminent. The poor soul just doesn't know that they will be next.
"Just wait. it won't be long now," he said. "This is when they begin coming out of hibernation, trying to get some food. Snd somebody traveling in grizzly country — maybe in Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, or somewhere in Alaska — is going to walk into trouble."
"Everything you hear about grizzly bears is true," Underwood said of the grizzly bear. "They are one of the most dangerous animals on the planet, the ultimate predator."
So what do all of the victims share? Just wrong time, wrong place. You never know when you might encounter a grizzly bear.
"The one thing victims have in common is being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Underwood says. "One of the keys to staying safe is to make plenty of noise and never travel through grizzly country alone. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the bear will run away as fast as it can go."
"But," he adds, "when it doesn't run away that's when trouble happens."
