Bear kills, Eats Denali backpacker Richard White in park's first fatal mauling

Mike Gallagher

Aug 27, 2012 - 05:12

Aug 27, 2012 - 05:37

0 0

Bear kills, Eats Denali backpacker Richard White in park's first fatal mauling

Grim Discovery: Evidence of the attack was found Friday afternoon by a trio of hikers, who came upon a lone backpack lying near a park river

The hiker mauled and eaten by a grizzly bear in Alaska's Denali National Park this weekend was an experienced explorer who loved traveling to remote areas alone, his family said.

Wildlife officials believe Richard White, a 49-year-old scientist from San Diego, Califoia, simply got too close to the 600-pound predator as he photographed it grazing on Friday.

For nearly eight minutes, the bear didn't realize Mr White was there and continued foraging.

The pictures on Mr White's camera, which park rangers discovered after his death, reveal the last peaceful moments before the bear noticed him 40 yards away and charged.

Mr White was married with a 21-month-old daughter named Mona. However, he liked to escape alone into the wildeess whenever he could find the time to get away, his father told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

'He had a real zest for seeing the phenomena in the world and interacting with people all over the globe,' Byron White told the newspaper. 'He also liked hiking alone in these remote places. He enjoyed being out in the wildeess.'

Richard White had been the director of exploratory pharmacology at Ferring Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, though he was in the process of changing jobs.

He was an experienced hiker who had been to Denali before and took a bear safety course that is mandatory for all back country hikers in the Park.

Mr White's death is the first known fatal bear attack on a human in the 90-year history of national park. Wildlife officials have worked to keep strict rules about human and wildlife interaction.

Officials recommend hikers carry bear spray, powerful chemicals that work like the pepper spray police officers carry, which can stop a bear charge without permanent harm to the animal.

Other explorers carry powerful rifles, shotguns and pistols to protect themselves. Mr White carried neither. His only defense -- a safety whistle.

Park rules say hikers should keep a quarter-mile distance from bears and back away whenever they see one of the dangerous animals. Mr White was just 40 yards away when he was killed -- 10 times closer than he should have been, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

'Certainly too close,' Pete Webster, Denali's chief park ranger, told the newspaper.

A state trooper shot and killed the bear, a 5-year-old male grizzly on Saturday and investigators examined its stomach contents and to confirm it had killed Mr White.

Rugged: Denali National Park home to Mt. McKinley. It spans more than 6 million acres and is home to numerous wild animals, including bears, wolves, caribou and moose

The hiker was backpacking alone along the Toklat River on Friday afteoon when he came within 40 yards of the bear and began snapping photographs. He was so close, he used a wide-angle lens instead his telephoto, the pictures reveal.

'They show the bear grazing in the willows, not acting aggressive in any form or manner during that period of time,' Denali Park Superintendent Paul Anderson said.

Officials leaed of the attack after hikers stumbled upon an abandoned backpack along the river about three miles from a rest area on Friday afteoon. The hikers also spotted to clothing and blood. They immediately hiked back and alerted staff park.

Rangers in a helicopter spotted a large male grizzly bear sitting on the hiker's remains, which they called a 'food cache' in the underbrush about 100 to 150 yards from the site of the attack on Friday.

'Over the years, and especially since the 1970s, the park has worked very diligently to minimize the conflict between humans and wildlife in the park,' Mr Anderson said.

'We have some of the most stringent human-wildlife conflict regulations in the National Park system, and I think those are largely responsible for the fact that there hasn't been a fatal attack.'

Park officials said they don't believe other registered backpackers are in the immediate area. That portion of the park is closed but other wildeess areas remain open, officials said.

Denali is located 240 miles north of Anchorage, and is famously home to Mt. McKinley. It spans more than 6 million acres and is home to numerous wild animals, including bears, wolves, caribou and moose.

The attack was discovered Friday around 5.30pm, when a trio of other hikers came upon a lone backpack lying along the Tolkat River about three miles from a rest area.

'Upon further investigation, they saw evidence of a violent struggle, including to clothing and blood,' a Park Service spokesman told the Daily News.