A younger lady was attacked by a bear at a Montana campground on Sunday, state wildlife officers stated.
The three-year-old was inside a tent at a non-public campground simply north of Yellowstone Nationwide Park when the black bear attacked, based on Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
After the incident occurred round 10 p.m. Sunday, the lady was taken to a hospital in Billings. As of Tuesday afternoon, Montana officers had no data on her situation. The campground was evacuated following the assault, and traps had been positioned within the space. In a information launch, wildlife officers stated that they had captured and euthanized the bear.
“FWP believes it was the bear concerned within the incident however is continuous with seize efforts on the web site till tomorrow afternoon for due diligence,” Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks stated.
Billings residents Don and Lisa Wilcox stated they steadily hike within the space and all the time carry bear spray — simply in case, they informed MTN Information.
Easy methods to Keep Bear Protected
Bear assaults, whereas typically uncommon, are extra widespread occurrences in states like Montana. A well-liked path close to Yellowstone Nationwide Park was closed final yr after a grizzly bear mauled and killed a girl climbing alone close to West Yellowstone, Mont. And only a few months in the past, California officers confirmed the first deadly black bear assault in state historical past.
However whether or not you’re climbing alone or sleeping in a tent, there are a number of issues you are able to do to keep away from conflicts with these massive animals.
Bear Spray
If you happen to’re climbing, biking, or searching in these areas, bear spray and different deterrents are your finest wager to forestall a harmful encounter with a startled bear. Additionally, having that peace of thoughts may even allow you to get pleasure from a possible bear sighting from a protected distance.
An alternative choice is a bear horn, which merely makes sufficient noise to keep away from any disagreeable ursine encounters — or scare them off.
Be Much less Engaging
The most effective factor you are able to do is to not enterprise into bear nation alone. Most adverse bear-human interactions happen when individuals take to the path solo. Bears aren’t keen on teams.
When tenting in bear nation, one of the important items of substances is a bear protected. They’re so efficient at lowering human-bear encounters that many nationwide parks and wilderness areas require campers to make use of them.
Bears have a eager sense of scent, usually thought-about the very best amongst land mammals. By conservative estimates, a bear can scent meals from 2 miles away. Their sense of scent is 1000’s of instances higher at monitoring down meals than the human sense of scent, which is concentrated extra on distinction than vary.
If you’re camped for the night time, make sure you put any meals or different scented merchandise, together with toothpaste and sunscreen, right into a bear canister and place away out of your web site.
Ideally, you place it downwind — 100 yards away, if doable.
