Grizzly bites berry picker in Glacier Park
A grizzly sow and her cubs feed in a patch of huckleberries in Glacier National Park in the Swiftcurrent Valley in this file photo. A bear like this one bit a huckleberry picker in the same valley on Saturday.
A Glacier Park employee was bitten by a grizzly bear while picking berries in the Swiftcurrent Valley Saturday in Many Glacier. Park spokesman Tim Rains said the woman was about a quarter-mile off trail near Red Rock Falls when she had a surprise encounter with the bear, which bit her in the hands and the back of her legs about 7 p.m.
A hiking companion and other hikers went for help. The woman, whose name was not released, had bear spray on her, but didn’t have time to deploy it, Rains said. The woman walked most of the way back to the trailhead before rangers arrived. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Browning and then transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
The incident was not considered predatory and no action will be taken against the bruin, Rains noted. A sow and two cubs were seen in the area shortly after the incident.
Bear bites are very painful and are prone to infection. The last visitor injury by a grizzly bear was on Sept. 29 last year when a 65-year old male hiker surprised a sow grizzly with two sub-adult cubs, receiving puncture wounds to his lower leg and injuries to his hand. He was coming off Mount Henkel when he surprised the bear.
The Swiftcurrent Pass Trail was closed after the incident, but has since reopened. The Iceberg Lake-Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail has also been closed for the past week due to bear activity.
Bears in Glacier are on the move as they fatten up for winter. It’s been a good year for huckleberries and other berries in the Park. Earlier this month, in a separate incident, a grizzly bear got into a day pack that was left behind at Avalanche Lake.
The Park closed the area, set up a backpack with an electrified fence around it in an attempt to shock the bear — and perhaps teach it a lesson if it returned. But the grizzly didn’t return. A black bear, however, tried to grab the pack, but was shocked.
The Park caught that incident by remote camera.
The Avalanche Lake Trail has since reopened and the area is no longer posted for bear activity.
Folks hiking in the Park are reminded that carrying bear spray is an effective method of bear deterrence. They also highly recommend making noise when hiking. All of Glacier is good bear habitat. The Park is home to about 300 grizzlies and 600 black bears.ten