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Tag: campground

  • Yellowstone Shooting: Officials Identify 3 Year Old

    A 3-year-old girl who allegedly shot herself with a handgun on Saturday at Yellowstone National Park has been identified. Officials were able to identify the little girl and released her name today. Ella Marie Tucker, of Pocatello, Idaho was the victim of the shooting. Her parent’s names have not yet been released.

    The park officials responded to a call by Ella’s mother, saying that her daughter had just shot herself with the gun at the Grant Village Campground. The officials tried to resuscitate Ella, but were unable to. The officials said that this was the first shooting death in the park since 1978. Records show that there were two shooting deaths that occurred during that year.

    Officials are conducting an investigation into the shooting and are trying to answer the question: Why and how did Ella have access to the handgun in the first place? “We don’t have all of the information, and we haven’t drawn any conclusions,” the park spokesman, Al Nash said.

    Having the gun on the campground site is not illegal. A federal law went into effect February 22, 2010, that allows visitors and campers to possess firearms in the park. “Given the 3 million visitors we see here every year, there thankfully are very few fatalities reported in the park,” Nash said. He also added that heart attacks remain the main cause of death at the park.

    Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States and spans through parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Each year, an estimated 3 million people visit the park.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Wolf Attack In Minnesota Is The State’s First

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYG6yePNLA4

    The first official reporting of a gray wolf attack in Minnesota occurred on Saturday at the West Winnie Campground located on Lake Winnibigoshish. The victim, a sixteen-year-old boy named Noah Graham, was attacked and bitten in the head by a 75 pound gray wolf, which appeared in the early morning hours close to 4 a.m. when Noah was preparing to fall asleep. Noah was in the vicinity of the campsite’s beach area with members from his church when the attack happened.

    Scott Graham, the boy’s father, spoke about the ordeal. “The wolf just came up behind Noah, he didn’t hear anything, and it just grabbed him by the back of the head and wouldn’t let go. He had to physically pry the jaws of the wolf open, to get it off of him, and once he got it off of him and he was up, the wolf stood there growling at him. And he had to shout at it and kick at it to get it to go away.”

    The Department of Natural Resources reports that this is the first known human attack in Minnesota by a gray wolf, which is also called a timber wolf. The enforcement director for the Department of Natural Resources, Colonel Ken Soring, said, “Our records do not reflect that we’ve had wolf attacks like this in Minnesota.”

    Authorities tracked and killed the wolf responsible for the attack in order to test for rabies where the University of Minnesota veterinary lab will be responsible for completing the tests. What could have triggered this rare display of aggression? The wolf was noted as having a deformed jaw, which could have been a contributing factor in the attack. Due to the abnormally-shaped jawline, the wolf may have potentially struggled with the process of tracking, locating, and consuming food.

    Are campsites safe? Should other campers be readily prepared to confront wolves while enjoying the wilderness? Colonel Soring surmised the situation. “It’s too early to speculate as far as the condition or the causes with this animal, but it is not characteristic of wolves to approach people,” he said.

    Noah Graham is fortunate to have responded quickly to the situation. His recovery includes the placement of 17 stitches in the back of his head as well as undergoing shots as part of rabies precautionary measures.

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]