Montana man who survived bear attacks dies of natural causes

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Jim Cole, a Montana man who recently published a book about surviving two attacks by grizzly bears, has died of natural causes, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported. He was 60.

Gallatin County Coroner Mike Chesnut said Cole died July 22.

Cole had just published his third book, ‘Blindsided: Surviving a Grizzly Attack and Still Loving the Great Bear.’ (YouTube promotional video above.)

The book tells of how he accidentally stepped on a female grizzly bear while hiking off a trail in Yellowstone National Park in May 2007. The bear attack cost him his left eye and left him badly scarred, but Cole was quick to say it was not the bear’s fault because he startled her.

Three years earlier, Cole was cited in Yellowstone for getting too close to a sow grizzly with two cubs to take a photograph. The park regulation was clarified after he was acquitted in a non-jury trial.

-- Associated Press