A black bear injured a hiker in Ferry County on Sunday while she was hiking with her dogs.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement that the woman was on private property near Mink Creek Road with her two dogs when she was charged by the bear.
WDFW said her injuries were not life-threatening. She was treated and released from a Spokane hospital on the same day.
WDFW officers interviewed the woman and found that her dogs got between two black bears. One of the bears chased the dogs back toward the woman and charged her.
The bear that charged was believed to be a female. On Monday, WDFW officers, a wildlife specialist for Stevens and Ferry counties and houndsmen found and killed a 120-pound black bear near the site of the attack.
After it was killed, they found that the bear was a male, and not the one involved in the incident, according to WDFW.
They tried to find the bear responsible but failed. At the landowner's request, they gave up the search.
WDFW said the meat from the bear that was killed will be donated to the U.S. Air Force.
___
(c)2024 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
Visit The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) at www.spokesman.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.