A 73-year-old Montana woman was mauled by a bear near Glacier National Park, near the Canadian border, while she was walking with her dog and her husband who pulverized the beast.
- The woman was walking her dog with her husband when the bear attacked
- Her husband used bear spray to keep the animal away from his wife, who was airlifted to a Kalispell hospital.
A 73-year-old woman was mauled by a bear while walking with her husband and their dog in Montana near Glacier National Park, officials said.
The woman’s husband used bear spray to keep the beast away from his wife and they were able to return to their vehicle and drive to a location where they could call emergency services around 3 p.m.
The woman, who was not identified, was then flown to a hospital in Kalispell, about 50 miles from the Canadian border. No information on his condition was given by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Authorities are unsure whether a grizzly bear or a black bear was involved in the attack, which comes just two days after a grizzly bear killed a Canadian couple in Banff National Park.
A 73-year-old woman was mauled by a bear near the Canada-U.S. border while walking her dog in the Flathead National Forest with her husband Sunday afternoon.
Authorities do not yet know whether the bear involved was a grizzly bear or a black bear.
The attack happened near Glacier National Park on the bank of Trail Creek, a popular hiking spot in the Flathead National Forest. The last reported bear incident in this area was in July 2023, when a 5-year-old bear was euthanized.
The exact location of the horrific attack on the couple – who own property in the area – was on the bank of Trail Creek, which is less than five miles south of the Canadian border.
According to NPS morning reports for Glacier National Park, the most recent confirmed bear incident occurred on July 26, 2023, when a five-year-old grizzly bear was euthanized by the NPS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The grizzly bear reportedly “obtained food repeatedly from humans and became increasingly aggressive.”
Glacier National Park has banned soft-sided camping — including tents, hammocks and soft-sided RVs — due to a recent increase in bear incidents.
This is the most recent ambush in a series of incidents involving bears in areas near the Canadian border.
A Canadian couple was mauled to death by a grizzly bear about 275 miles north of the most recent attack in Banff National Park on Friday.
The long-time, “inseparable” partners were able to send a GPS alert to Parks Canada around 8 p.m. Friday indicating they had been attacked.
The elderly woman was rescued when her husband deployed bear spray to keep the creature away from his wife. They then fled in their car and called emergency services who transported the bear victim to a nearby hospital.
A recent grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park left a couple and their dog mauled to death by the vicious bear. Expert Kim Titchener (pictured) said bear sightings are becoming more common, but fatal attacks are rare.
A wildlife attack team was immediately dispatched to the scene, but bad weather forced them to abandon the helicopter and travel by land.
The Parks Canada team arrived the next day at 1 a.m. and found the couple dead with their dog.
The grizzly bear was still in the area and exhibiting “aggressive behavior” and the animal was euthanized “for public safety.”
According to bear expert and friend of the couple Kim Titchener, there are approximately 60 grizzly bears in Banff National Park and although encounters are increasing as more people go outdoors, fatal attacks are extremely rare.
She said: ‘That’s just why we’re seeing more attacks, which is more people heading out and unfortunately not being informed about it.’
Titchener — the founder of Bear Safety & More Inc. and RecSafe with Wildlife — said only 14 percent of grizzly bear attacks worldwide result in fatalities.
