A grizzly bear killed a woman after pulling her from a tent in Ovando, a small town about 50 miles east of Missoula, Montana. Officials say it happened early in the morning of July 6, 2021.
Grizzlies are common in the immediate Blackfoot Valley but locals cannot remember an attack happening within the town limits.
“There was an earlier contact with the bear prior to the event,” Gavin Roselles, Powell County sheriff, told the Associated Press. “The bear basically came back into the campsite. It wandered into a campsite a couple different times.”
Wildlife workers set traps and took to the skies in a helicopter seeking to locate the bear.
The attack comes at a time when grizzlies are having a greater impact on livestock in Montana. According to the state’s Livestock Loss Board, predation is up 40 percent along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front compared to one year earlier.
(Photo source: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks)