On August 25 animal rights activist Jeffery Scheu (at the time using the alias Jesshua Aman) was tracking a bison with the Buffalo Field Campaign when he apparently surprised a grizzly bear which proceeded to savagely maul him.
The Buffalo Field Campaign is a group opposed to federal and state efforts to control the number of bison migrating from Yellowstone National Park into Montana in search of feed during the winter months. An estimated 50 percent of the bison in Yellowstone carry a bacterial infection called brucellosis which Montana and federal authorities spent decades and tens of millions of dollars eradicating from cattle herds in the state.
After it was revealed that Scheu used an alias and was wanted in Ohio for failing to pay child support, the Buffalo Field Campaign quickly disavowed him maintaining that he did not represent their group (even though he was working with them as a volunteer at the time of the attack) and lied on a volunteer agreement.
Mike Mease, a spokesman for the group, said,
One bad apple slipped through our screen process and it took a grizzly to point him out. This is poetic justice.
As opposed to the 22 Buffalo Field Campaign activists arrested in the winter of 1998-1999 and the 21 activists arrested in the winter of 2000-2001.
Source:
Animal rights group distances itself from bear mauling victim. Associated Press, September 7, 2002.