A hunter who shot a bear foraging around his home in Oregon was attacked by the animal just hours after the initial encounter.
The bear that attacked the hunter is believed to be a black bear. Photo: iStock
Hunter Craig Lankford was attacked on May 24 in La Grande, around 7 a.m. Lankford first shot the bear on the night of May 23 after it disturbed his chickens. He shot the animal a second time the next morning, when he encountered it near his home. The bear then attacked him. Lankford suffered injuries to his arm and head. The victim was hospitalized but is expected to recover, according to Newsweek .
The Union County Sheriff's Department, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and the Oregon State Police investigated the attack. They found the injured bear and euthanized it. A necropsy confirmed that the bear captured by authorities was the one responsible for the attack.
The bear involved in the attack was likely a black bear, as there are only a few thousand grizzly bears in the entire country. According to ODFW, there are no native grizzly bears in Oregon. Black bears are widespread in the United States, with an estimated population of 339,000 to 465,000, with Oregon alone home to 25,000 to 30,000 black bears.
Bears typically eat berries, nuts and vegetables, but are also drawn to human settlements by the smell of food, livestock and garbage. “As human populations expand and move closer to the bears’ shrinking wild habitat, the area between human settlements and bear territory is increasing,” said Heidi Quine, director of Animals Asia. “This increases the risk of coming into contact with humans while searching for food.”
Bears are used to entering human settlements for food, becoming accustomed to the presence of humans and becoming more tame. They are more likely to be attacked by humans or vice versa. Wounded bears can be especially dangerous. ODFW has documented at least three incidents where injured bears attacked hunters with firearms but did not kill them. Fortunately, all victims survived.
An Khang (According to Newsweek )
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