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Alaska Bruin Attacks Teenage Biker
From the Anchorage Daily News:
A teenage girl riding in an all-night mountain bike race was badly injured early Sunday morning when a bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park. . . .
"One of the EMS supervisors on the scene said that in his 24 years of doing this, these were the most extensively traumatic injuries he'd seen," [Anchorage Fire Department spokeswoman Cleo] Hill said.
The bear is believed to be a grizzly . . . .
The victim is expected to make a full recovery, according to a statement from her family.
The girl was unfortunately riding with bear bells attached to her bike, but those, for years, have been shown to be ineffective in deterring bear encounters, and may actually attract bears. The bikers should have been carrying pepper sprays on their person if they were concerned about bears, which, according to the article, they were and had every reason to be.
Posted by: Calvin | July 02, 2008 at 12:46 PM
I was just at Hillside - playing golf at the Creek Course. We saw three black bear cubs wandering around. I question whether it was a Grizz as a Bruin with Cubs could do just as much damage - if not more.
Posted by: NH Philosopher | July 02, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Gotta be carefull in bear country. Can't stress that enough.
Posted by: Blue Ox | July 02, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Black Bear scat smells like berries and grubs and has little seeds in it.......Grizz scat smells like pepper spray and has little bells in it.
Posted by: FH | July 05, 2008 at 09:57 AM
Ha that was funny FH. . I think i would leave the pepper spray at home, but if you do decide to bring it with you make sure to get a small bottle so it doesnt hurt as much when that grizzly sticks that pepper spray right up your ass.
Posted by: CTB | July 05, 2008 at 11:56 AM
so did they kill the bear?
Posted by: Me | July 07, 2008 at 09:18 AM
I'd suggest carrying a .44 to pop anything that comes your way. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Posted by: Colfax,Louisiana | July 14, 2008 at 06:04 PM