HELENA, Mont. – A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person camping in western Montana early Tuesday after previously venturing to the campsite, the Powell County Sheriff’s Office said.
The attack occurred between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the area of Ovando, a town of less than 100 residents about 97 kilometers northwest of Helena, said Greg Lemon of the agency. “Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks”.
A team of police and wildlife specialists have been assembled to track down the bear, he added.
The identity of the victim was not immediately disclosed and other circumstances surrounding the attack were under investigation.
Officials did not say specifically where the attack took place, but Sheriff Gavin Roselles said there were other campers nearby.
Interactions between grizzly bears and humans are increasing in the Rockies, as federally protected animals expand into new areas and the number of residents and visitors to the area grows.
In April, a backcountry guide was killed by a grizzly bear while fishing along the border of Yellowstone National Park in southwest Montana.
Ovando sits on the southern edge of a vast expanse of wilderness that stretches to the Canadian border and is home to a thousand bears. The region includes Glacier National Park.
In 2016, an off-duty U.S. Forest Service officer was fatally maimed in that area after colliding with a grizzly bear while mountain biking in the Flathead National Forest.
Grizzly bears involved in attacks on humans are killed if they are considered a continuing threat to public safety. But bears involved in non-fatal attacks are often spared if they encounter surprise encounters or protect their young.
An estimated 50,000 grizzly bears once inhabited western North America, from the Pacific Ocean to the Great Plains. Hunting, commercial trapping, and habitat loss dramatically reduced the population in the early 1900s.
Grizzly bears have been protected as an endangered species since 1975 in the United States, allowing slow recovery in a handful of areas.
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