Denali Hunting Grizzly After Hiker Attack

'Erratic' juvenile bear has had multiple incidents with hikers, won't be scared off
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 3, 2016 7:27 AM CDT
Denali Hunting Grizzly After Hiker Attack
A grizzly bear runs along a bank of the Toklat River on Monday, Aug. 12, 2013, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.   (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

A young grizzly bear at Denali National Park will be put down after an attack that sent a hiker to the hospital, the National Park Service says. The bear, estimated to be between 2 and 5 years old, charged a group on the Savage Alpine Trail on Friday, reports CNN; the group played dead, but the bear bit and scratched a 28-year-old woman before the group eventually scared it off. The woman was treated at the park and sent to a hospital; her condition is unknown. It wasn't the "erratic" bear's first interaction with humans: Over the past two weeks it had charged hikers at least twice, and though no one was injured, it did take food. Efforts to scare the bear out of the area using "adverse conditioning," in which rangers shoot bean bags at the animal, failed. The park service has closed the four-mile trail while it searches for the bear. (More Denali National Park stories.)

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