U.S. authorities have launched a manhunt to locate a gray bear that pulled a woman from its tent in the middle of the night and killed her in the state of Montana.
Wildlife officials and police are scanning the area and intend to kill the bear if they find it.
The gray bear, which weighed about 181 kilograms, woke up the campers for the first time around 3 a.m., officials said. They took the food out of their tents, secured it and went back to sleep. But the bear returned a short time later and made the deadly attack on the unfortunate woman.
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At about 4:15 a.m., the sheriff’s office received a call after two people in a tent close to the victim woke up to the sounds of the attack. They sprayed repellent and the bear ran away.
The bear is also believed to have entered a coop in the city that night, killing and eating several hens . The bear will be killed if found, said Greg Lemon, a spokesman for the park’s services.
Ovanto, a community of less than 100 people, is located on the edge of Glacier National Park – an area of forests and mountains that stretch across the border with Canada.
The park is home to the largest bear population in the United States , but deadly attacks are rare in the area. There have been two other incidents in the last 20 years, according to the US Fish, Wildlife and Parks Service (FWP).
Bears that attack humans are not always killed if their attack results from a surprise encounter, or if they defend their young.
However, a spokesman for the Montana FWP told the AP that the bear involved in the death of the 65-year-old woman was considered a threat due to the nature of the attack.
