Woman out jogging seriously injured after bear attacks and drags her 100 yards

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - Wildlife officials in Alaska have asked a neighborhood to be on high alert after a 36-year-old woman was attacked by a bear Tuesday morning.

According to Alaska Wildlife Trooper David Lorring, the woman was seriously injured when she went for a jog near her home on Chinook Drive, a neighborhood near the Pillars Boat Launch on the Kenai River, sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m.

“She made it probably 50 yards from her house,” Lorring said. “The bear came out of another property, it looks like it attacked her ... and dragged her approximately 100 yards down the road onto this guy’s property.”

Lorring said the man was a neighbor who had awakened to noises before daylight, which he assumed were coming from a bear. He went outside to inspect about half an hour later, when it was light out.

“He heard the barking, wolfing sound of a bear. He’d been around bears before and he thought a bear might have got a dog and was doing something in the neighborhood,” Lorring said. “He didn’t really think much of it and then he heard it some more. [In] daylight, he walked out there and located a female in the woods on his property. ”

Lorring said the woman was bleeding from substantial wounds to her face and scalp but was conscious and able to talk, despite being in shock.

She was airlifted to an Anchorage hospital for treatment.

When authorities arrived on the site, they said the bear had left. They said they believe it is a brown bear based on the animal’s tracks and other evidence.

Wildlife Troopers, Fish and Game and Kenai Police searched the area but were unable to find it.

Lorring said there was no sign the bear was protecting a food source and that it was likely the woman took it by surprise.

Troopers initially said the bear would be put down if located, but Lorring said it would be difficult to determine which bear was involved. He also said it is possible the bear may have left the area.

Lorring said troopers and police will have patrols in the neighborhood for the next few days and residents are asked to stay vigilant.

Lorring also said it is a good time to remember that bears are out eating salmon and berries at this time of the year as they bulk up for winter hibernation.

Most importantly, Lorring said people need to be aware and prepared should they encounter a bear.

“If you do get out in the woods, make sure you can hear your surroundings and what is going on,” he said. ”And that can be as simple as putting in one AirPod and not two.”