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The Utah biologist who was shot in the hand while researchers were working in a bear den in a remote stretch of wildlands was lucky to escape serious injury or even death, according biologists familiar with the process.
The biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) was among a group of seven that tracked a bear and her cub to their den in the Book Cliffs region.
When they confronted the black bear sow, the biologist's pistol dart gun malfunctioned, but he still immobilized the bear, according to Bill Bates, wildlife section chief with DWR. Bates wasn't present Tuesday but spoke with the biologists who were there.
The biologist, whose name hasn't been released by DWR, went to reload the gun to dart the female bear's yearling cub when the tool misfired and pierced his hand with the sedative dart, Bates said.
The biologist was taken to a hospital in Provo by medical helicopter, but the situation could have been much worse.
Drugs used to tranquilize large animals can be "incredibly, incredibly potent — to the point that one drop, if it came out of a dart onto the skin, could potentially be fatal," said Gregg Losinski, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game who works with bears.
Instead, the anonymous biologist, who the agency said is a 20-year veteran of the agency and has long worked with bears, hit a string of good luck.
First, Bates and other biologists said, scientists receive considerable training to use tranquilizers for tracking and researching bears. Utah DWR employees received their annual training two weeks before the incident, Bates said.
"Some of these guys taught the training themselves," Bates said.
Some tranquilizers, like those used on ungulates like deer, elk and moose, are lethal to humans who don't receive immediate medical care.
The Utah DWR uses a mix of Ketamine and Xylazine to knock out bears during research, Bates said. The mix is less dangerous to humans than other tranquilizers that are available.
"The risk is that, with some of these drugs specifically, there's a muscle relaxer in one of them that can cause the tongue to relax ... to the point where it blocks your respiration," Bates said. "That's the risk of using these drugs."
Bates and other biologists said these kinds of incidents are rare.
"You don't hear about it often because it's the kind of thing that's so lethal," Losinski said. "There's not very much room for mistake."
In 35 years with the agency, handling hundreds of bears, Bates said he's heard of two cases in which an officer has been shot with a dart.
This one, Bates said, "will be remembered."
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson, @lramseth