Harry Walker's Fatal Grizzly Attack In YSNP

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Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to Yellowstone National Park. No, we aren’t going to the broad expanses of the Lamar Valley or some backcountry trail too close to a bison carcass. The attack we will be discussing happened at one of the most visited locations in the entire park, Old Faithful Geyser. Yes, the crowds of people that visit the geyser in the peak month of July approach one million in number. That comes out to about 30,000 people daily, about 1,000 people each hour. The elevation here is a little over 7300 feet high and the rolling granite hills are sparsely covered with pine, fir, and spruce trees. Elk, moose, deer, bison, and antelope are visible from nearly any road in the park but sometimes cause traffic jams here. The raised boardwalks meander a safe distance away from deceptively tranquil pools of boiling mineralized water. Black bears, cougars, coyotes, and wolves roam this area, but the danger they pose pales in comparison to those Grizzly bears present.
On Saturday, June 24th, 1972, 25-year-old Harry Walker was hitchhiking around the country in a reevaluation of his life. He was traveling with his friend, 29-year-old Phillip Bradberry from Oxford, Alabama, who went by the nickname, Crow. Harry hailed from Anniston, Alabama, and was a farmer. The men had left 19 days prior and wound up in Yellowstone during its centennial celebration.
Upon entering the park the men were allowed admittance for free because they were on foot and not in a vehicle. The rangers didn’t do this for everyone but allowed Harry and Phillip in as a favor.
While making their way through the various gates and offices the men had somehow managed to miss all the literature provided regarding the danger of bears in the park.
For the past few decades there had been a debate brewing among biologists and other scientists about just how the park should be run. In 1943 Olaus Murie had called on authorities to close down dumps that park employees used to dispose of their trash. Bears were known to gather around the dumpsites and at one point 7 grizzlies had been observed at a single dump. Given the total population was below 100 bears at one point, that is a significant percentage of the bear population that were relying on dumps for food.
For the eight decades prior, bears had been allowed to scavenge food from Yellowstone and other national parks, but conscientious scientists noted that they didn’t need them and it was unnatural.
Given this permission and encouragement, bears that otherwise would avoid human contact were trained to tolerate and even seek it out for sustenance. Since the bears were hanging out along the roads begging for food many visitors safely ventured into the backcountry which was nearly void of bears in comparison.
By the late 60s, the discussion had reached fever pitch and two camps had formed among the scientists. One camp believed in closing the dumps at once and forcing the bears to go back to natural food sources. The other camp was led by two biologists, the Craighead brothers.
The Craigheads noted that closing the dumps too quickly would force human-dependent bears to invade campgrounds in search of food. They proposed that road-killed carcasses of deer, elk, and bison be helicoptered into the backcountry to lure the bears away from the dumps. The dumps could then be closed slowly so that lingering bears would follow their noses to feed on the carcasses and away from campgrounds. The Craighead brothers summarized the proposal in a 113-page report and delivered it to Yellowstone’s Superintendent, John McLaughlin in 1967.
In the same year, a spat of grizzly maulings and human fatalities occurred in Glacier National Park and became known as the Night of the Grizzlies. Two women were killed by bears habituated to eating from dumps near ranger stations. The potential of having a similar occurrence in Yellowstone prompted McLaughlin to order an immediate and sudden closure of all dumps in the park.
Visitors to the park were not provided bear-proof dumpsters at this time and weren’t particularly afraid of having bears come into their camps. After all, only a few years prior they were allowed to hand-feed bears along the roadsides. Their perception of bears was that they were harmless and wouldn’t hurt you, even if they ate all of your food.
Grizzlies being grizzlies, the closure of the dumps caused an enormous uptick in bear attacks and hostility. Rangers were charged with protecting the public, so the problem bears were shot, reducing an already low population to near extinction.