A woman out for a jog in Kenai, Alaska, this week was seriously hurt in a bear mauling.
The Alaska Wildlife Troopers said in a dispatch that the 36-year-old woman, whom they did not name, went for a run at around 5:45 a.m.Tuesday and made it past her driveway when the bear attacked.
A neighbor found her and called for help just before 7 a.m.
“She made it probably 50 yards from her house. The bear came out of another property; it looks like it attacked her … and dragged her approximately 100 yards down the road onto this guy’s property,” Alaska Wildlife Trooper David Lorring told Anchorage’s KTUU-TV.
The woman suffered injuries to her face and scalp, Mr. Lorring said, but was conscious and able to speak when first responders arrived. She was then taken to the hospital.
The Alaska Wildlife Troopers didn’t say whether the bear was brown, black or polar, but based on the tracks, they believe a brown bear was the culprit, reported KTUU-TV.
The state troopers haven’t located the bear responsible. If it’s found and confirmed to be the one that attacked the woman, it would be put down, troopers spokesperson Tim DeSpain told the Anchorage Daily News.
The attack took place near a local river that’s experiencing a record run of sockeye salmon. Biologists think the surplus of salmon is drawing bears to the rivers and areas nearby, reported the Anchorage newspaper.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game warned people to stay away from salmon-bearing streams following a pair of bear attacks on humans in July, according to The Associated Press.
