72-year-old man fought off and k!lled a grizzly bear that attacked him while he was picking huckleberries in Montana.
The man, who has not been identified, was alone on national forest land when the adult female charged at him on Thursday, July 18, leaving him with serious injuries, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials said.
During the struggle, he was able to fire off a handgun and k!ll the bear before he was rushed to a local hospital.
The bear was likely a mother trying to defend her cubs, according to agency spokesperson Dillon Tabish.
Wildlife workers have begun searching for cubs in the area.
“Depending on the age, we might leave them in the wild because they have a better chance of survival, rather than have to euthanize them,” Tabish said.
The attack happened in the Flathead National Forest about 2 miles north of Columbia Falls, a northwestern Montana city of about 5,500 people, according to the state wildlife agency.
The same day the man was attacked, Fish, Wildlife & Parks shot an adult female grizzly bear that had been breaking into homes and stealing food around the town of Gardner just north of Yellowstone National Park.
No people were hurt by the bear, which was shot dead in the Yellowstone River about 300 miles south of the attack in the Columbia Falls area.