BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Wildlife officers killed a black bear in Whatcom County after it attacked a jogger.
Captain Jennifer Maurstad with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife says the attack happened on a trail north of Lake Whatcom Wednesday morning, August 3rd.
“He’s a regular jogger and he was out for a run and saw the bear. He continued on his jog, looked behind him and saw that the bear was pursuing him,” said Maurstad. “They came face-to-face and then the bear did unfortunately jump on him and cause some puncture wounds.”
He sustained multiple injuries on his hands and feet, and was treated and released from the hospital.
Maurstad says her officers were able to track down the bear later that night with the help of a Karelian bear dog.
“This is a breed of dog that is specially trained to chase and track and tree bears,” said Maurstad.
She stresses that while this incident required the the bear be destroyed, the bear dogs are most often used to help capture and save bears.
This attack was extremely rare, as only 18 other black bear injury incidents have been reported in the state since 1970, and only one of those was fatal.
To listen to the full interview with Captain Maurstad, visit our Podcast page.