July 7 (UPI) — Authorities in Montana are on the look out for a grizzly bear after it killed a woman early Tuesday.
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in a statement that officials responded Tuesday morning to a report of a fatal bear attack in Ovando, which is about 50 miles east of Missoula.
Greg Lemon, the administrator of communications at the department, identified the victim to CNN as a woman on a cycling trip who was camping when the attack occurred.
“It’s rare for us to have a human and grizzly bear encounter that results in a fatality,” Lemon said. “But it happens every year that people and bears have conflicts.”
Traps have been set up in the area near where the attack occurred and authorities have been searching both on the ground and in the air for the bear, the Powell County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Lemon said the plan is to euthanize the bear once its captured.
The parks department said the attack came after a night in which a bear was captured in footage shot by a camera at a local business and reports of a bear getting into a chicken coop.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the victim of the bear attack this morning in Ovando,” the Powell County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office said it closed the campsites until Sunday in Ovando where grizzly bears are common.
“We encourage anyone in the area to be cautious and aware that as of now the bear in question has not been located,” it said.
