The Hunt Is On for Grizzly Bear That Killed Camper in Tiny Montana Town
A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person who was camping in western Montana early Tuesday, the Powell County sheriff said.
The attack happened between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. in Ovando, a town of fewer than 100 people about 60 miles northwest of Helena, according to Greg Lemon, a spokesman for Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.
“There was an earlier contact with the bear prior to the event,” Sheriff Gavin Roselles said. “The bear basically came back into the campsite. It wandered into a campsite a couple different times.”
A team of law enforcement and wildlife specialists has been assembled to track down the bear, officials said.
An initial report said the victim had been riding a bicycle at the time of the attack. That is not the case, Roselles said.
Lemon said the victim was part of a group on a bike trip.
The identity of the victim was not immediately released and further circumstances surrounding the attack were under investigation.
“Our first concern is the community’s well-being. The next step is to find the bear,” Lemon said.
Officials did not say exactly where the attack occurred, but Roselles said there were other people camping in the vicinity of the attack.
A video camera from an Ovando business caught footage of a grizzly bear on Monday night, officials said. A bear also got into a chicken coop.
Ovando saloon owner Tiffanie Zavarelli said it was the first fatal bear mauling that she knew of in the community, located along the Blackfoot River beneath a mountain range that rises into the remote Bob Marshall Wilderness, a 1,500-square mile expanse of public forests.
Residents of the area are accustomed to living in proximity to bears, but the attack left them rattled, said Zavarelli, whose family owns Trixi’s Antler Saloon.
“Everybody’s pretty shaken up right now. The population here is 75 — everybody knows everybody,” Zararelli said.
Blackfoot Inn and general store owner Leigh Ann Valiton said the people of Ovando were “absolutely devastated” by the fatal attack.
Grizzly bear encounters have risen in the Northern Rockies over the past decade as the federally protected animals expand into new areas and the number of people living and recreating in the region grows. That’s spurred calls from elected officials in Montana and neighboring Wyoming and Idaho to lift protections so the animals could be hunted.
In April, a backcountry guide was killed by a grizzly bear while fishing along the Yellowstone National Park border in southwestern Montana.
The Bob Marshall Wilderness is home to an estimated 1,000 bears — the largest concentration in the contiguous U.S. The area includes Glacier National Park.
In 2016, an off-duty U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer was fatally mauled in the region after he collided with a grizzly while mountain biking in the Flathead National Forest.
Grizzly bears involved in attacks on humans can be trapped and killed if they are considered a continued public safety threat. Bears involved in non-fatal attacks are often spared in the case of a surprise encounter or if they are protecting their young.
It was not immediately known if the victim in Tuesday’s attack had bear spray or any chance to use it.
Grizzly bears have been protected as a threatened species in the contiguous U.S. since 1975.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
