Brothers seriously injured after bear attack in Yellowstone National Park

JACKSON (WNE) — Two brothers were attacked by at least one bear on Monday afternoon, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s first bear attack of the season. The men were airlifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where one is in critical condition and the other is in serious condition.

The News&Guide pieced together the brothers’ names through social media posts and obtained a status report from the hospital but is not reporting their names until they are released by family members or officials.

The park has been scant on details thus far. Officials have not released the ages of the victims or the subspecies of bear involved. Yellowstone press officials declined to answer questions about the attack.

The incident is the first bear attack in Yellowstone since September 2025, when a bear injured a 29-year-old man on the Turbid Lake Trail. That was the first attack since May 2021.

Yellowstone officials emphasized the park’s general bear safety guidelines following the attack.

The park recommends that visitors stay 100 yards away from bears at all times; carry bear spray and know how to use it; make noise; hike in groups of at least three people; avoid running from bears; and avoid hiking at dawn or dusk, when grizzlies are most active.

Park officials also recommend that visitors look for signs of bears, including tracks, scat and feeding sites. Signs of digging, rolled rocks, torn-up logs and ripped open anthills indicate that a bear might be feeding nearby.

This story was published on May 6, 2026.