Man attacked by bear is accidentally shot trying to fend off animal in Alaska

A hunter in Alaska was hospitalized after being mauled by a brown bear and shot during an effort to fend it off, authorities said Monday.

The bear attack occurred Saturday on the Kenai Peninsula, southwest of Anchorage, Alaska State Troopers said.

The hunter, a 32-year-old man, was seriously injured both in the mauling and in the shooting. He and a hunting companion opened fire, and he was shot in the leg. It was not immediately clear who fired the shot that struck him, troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said in an email.

The bear was killed by the hunters during the attack, officials said.

DeSpain said the mauling occurred in a remote area off the Resurrection Pass trail. The circumstances that led to it were not known. The injured hunter, whose identity was not immediately released, was flown by helicopter to an Anchorage hospital,  troopers said in a statement. Officials did not provide any details on his condition.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, brown bears and grizzly bears are both common names for the same species, Ursus arctos, but the main difference is their geographic location. Brown bears typically live along the southern coast of the state while grizzlies can be found in the northern and interior parts of the state. 

The attack in Alaska comes just days after a black bear mauled and injured a 3-year-old girl in a tent at a private campground in Montana just north of Yellowstone National Park.

The incident also marks at least the second time in less than two years that a hunter has been inadvertently shot during a bear attack. In October 2022, a hunter accidentally shot himself in the leg while trying to fight off a grizzly bear attack in Wyoming.