Published July 9, 2026 02:41 pm
In early July a black bear attacked a campsite in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest, despite attempts by two campers and their four dogs to scare away the animal. Now, experts say the bear’s unusual behavior indicates it is becoming too comfortable with humans and could become a dangerous problem in the future.
On July 5, two women, Shona Dehl and Maggie Bassett, were camping near Fool Creek, a scenic drainage in the northern part of the forest. Although there was no food or perfume in their tent, the bear tore into their tent in the middle of the night, Dehal said. Facebook.
Chris Servhein, former national grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), told Outside In his opinion, the bear should be euthanized.
“This bear is very aggressive towards humans and should be removed immediately,” he said. “This bear is dangerous, and he’s not going to change. This incident will only reinforce this type of behavior, so the next people he encounters, he’ll probably do the same thing.”
The dogs started barking and eventually the women fired shots at the bear to scare it away. However, their efforts did not work and according to an interview with a Montana outlet, the two hid in their cars parked nearby and kept blowing their horns to keep the bears away. ktvq.
Dehal wrote in his Facebook post, “We took all the precautions to pack nothing but food in our tent, but the bear headed straight towards us and our tent. He did not stop and we had to leave the camp in the middle of the night, but the bear still came back and completely destroyed our tent.”
When the bear did not leave, they reportedly left the area. On returning in the morning they said that the bear had destroyed their camping site.
What should I do if a bear attacks my campsite?
The Bighorn Mountains are active black bear habitat, according to National Park Service. A camper can practice the best bear-aware strategies, but a problem bear can quickly become a problem for people. Servahen said Dahl and Bassett did the right thing by leaving the camp – once they could no longer scare away the bear. However, he said if a bear gets into your tent, the first step of action is to spray it with bear spray.
“Don’t run,” he said Outside. “Running away can cause a bear to chase you. The first thing to do is to spray.”
Deahl commented on his Facebook post that he and Bassett both carried bear spray, but the bear attacked so quickly that they could not use it.
“We were sleeping and were woken up by the tent bursting,” he wrote. “My tent was about 50 feet from Maggie’s, and she kept screaming, the dogs kept barking, the bear didn’t care, just tore more. It happened very fast.”
The sounds of the warning shots were the only thing that kept the bears scared long enough to keep them from reaching their vehicles, he said.
Servheen said that in his 35-year career managing grizzlies for the FWS, he can remember few similar instances where a bear attacked a tent even when there was no food inside and was not deterred by barking dogs.
“It’s extremely rare,” he said. “Dogs can be a deterrent, but if the bear has had experience with dogs, and he was able to do what he wanted to do and ignore the dogs, he will ignore dogs in the future. They learn that dogs are no big deal.”
Your bear safety measures protect future campers
The historical behavior of people at a campsite can teach bad habits to even a good bear. Food, trash, and other scented products – such as cosmetics and gasoline – can initially attract a bear, and train them to associate certain sites with people and food. The safety of the bears protects other campers and hikers who later visit the wilderness area.
“It all boils down to the fact that bears have received food rewards in the past through their association with camps and tents,” Servheen said. “It seemed like these guys were doing all the right things.”
“But that’s the thing. You can do everything right, and a bear can still behave really crazy. It’s not your fault. It’s someone else’s fault who trained that bear, and you’re suffering the consequences. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you do the right thing, keep a clean camp, and don’t teach the bear to behave like that,” he said.
