A hunter was mauled by a sow brown bear Friday night in the Eureka area northeast of Anchorage, the Alaska State Troopers said.
The injured person’s hunting partner ended the attack by shooting the bear dead.
The two moose hunters were in the Gunsight Mountain area, about 120 miles northeast of Anchorage off the Glenn Highway, when they surprised a brown bear with two cubs Friday evening.
“The sow attacked one of the hunters causing serious injuries,” according to troopers.
The uninjured hunter shot and killed the bear. Troopers did not name the hunters.
The attack was reported around 7 p.m. on Friday evening, according to troopers. The injured hunter was flown to Anchorage with serious injuries.
An account of the aftermath of the attack by a cabin owner in the area was widely circulated on Facebook in the hours after the event.
The account, posted by a Glenn Marlin, said the two hunters in their 20s were in the “right place, bad timing” when they ran into the bear.
After the mauling and struggle with the bear, they got to a four-wheeler and were able to call to a nearby cabin for help, Marlin wrote.
The bear was recovered the next day, he wrote.