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The latest here in Anchorage this summer. There have been a few in the state so far this summer and there have been many sightings in and around Anchorage.
Grizzly attacks teen bicycle racer in Bicentennial Park
By BETH BRAGG and WESLEY LOY
(06/29/08 08:22:09)
A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race was badly injured early this morning when a bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park, authorities said.
Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl, who underwent surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
“One of the EMS supervisors on the scene said that in his 24 years of doing this, these were the most extensively traumatic injuries he’d seen,” Anchorage Fire Department spokeswoman Cleo Hill said this afternoon.
Hill said the girl is expected to survive.
Peter Basinger, a cyclist competing in the race who encountered the injured girl shortly after the attack, said the victim mumbled “bear” when he stopped to help.
Basinger waited with the girl for about 20 minutes until medics arrived. Emergency responders had to hike 2.5 miles from the South Bivouac trailhead off Campbell Airstrip Road to reach the girl, and then carried her on a stretcher across the same route to reach an ambulance on the road.
The girl’s helmet, ripped off in the attack, had been flung into the woods, Basinger said. Hill said the helmet probably saved the girl from further injury.
Officials declined to identify the victim.
Rick Sinnott, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game, went to the scene and said it could have been the same grizzly sow that charged two runners about two weeks ago on a nearby trail.
Police were called at 1:35 a.m. after another bicyclist found the mauled girl down and dazed on the ground.
She was among about 60 participants in a 24-hour race sponsored by the Arctic Bicycle Club. The team event began at noon Saturday and was to end at noon today. Organizers canceled it after the attack and were trying to account for all the other riders.
The girl had just come off the Gasline Trail north of Hilltop ski area and was entering the Rover’s Run Trail, which goes along the south fork of Campbell Creek, when the bear attacked, Sinnott said.
Most likely, he said, the grizzly was fishing for salmon in the creek and might not have heard the cyclist coming due to stream noise and strong winds roaring through the forest, he said.
Warning signs are posted in the area, although the city has not officially closed the trails to use.
It’s definitely not unheard of, Sinnott said, for a bear to charge someone moving by on a bicycle. In fact, the motion combined with surprise could trigger what was an “unintentionally provoked” attack, he said.
After the mauling, the girl used her cell phone to call 911 but was unable to communicate, Sinnott said.
Sinnott said he didn’t arrive in time to see the victim before she was taken to the hospital, but he learned from emergency responders that the girl suffered multiple injuries.
The bear bit her on the head, torso and thigh, Sinnott said. She also had a “sucking chest wound” caused by a puncture to the lung cavity.
It was close to 3 a.m. when Sinnott and two police officers emerged from the spooky near-solstice night to the South Bivouac Trailhead parking lot on Campbell Airstrip Road. Sinnott carried a 12-gauge shotgun.
The bear was nowhere to be seen, but the woods are dangerous, he said. He set about tacking up signs to warn people.
Mills, the police officer, opened a bag containing the injured girl’s bicycle helmet, which the bear had chewed up.
It was lucky she had the helmet on, as the bear attempted to chomp her head, Sinnott said.
He questioned the wisdom of bicyclists riding all night through bear territory.
“A midnight race along a salmon stream is probably a pretty bad idea when the salmon are there,” Sinnott said.
Contact the reporters at bbragg@adn.com and wloy@adn.com.
Grizzly attacks teen bicycle racer in Bicentennial Park
By BETH BRAGG and WESLEY LOY
(06/29/08 08:22:09)
A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race was badly injured early this morning when a bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park, authorities said.
Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl, who underwent surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
“One of the EMS supervisors on the scene said that in his 24 years of doing this, these were the most extensively traumatic injuries he’d seen,” Anchorage Fire Department spokeswoman Cleo Hill said this afternoon.
Hill said the girl is expected to survive.
Peter Basinger, a cyclist competing in the race who encountered the injured girl shortly after the attack, said the victim mumbled “bear” when he stopped to help.
Basinger waited with the girl for about 20 minutes until medics arrived. Emergency responders had to hike 2.5 miles from the South Bivouac trailhead off Campbell Airstrip Road to reach the girl, and then carried her on a stretcher across the same route to reach an ambulance on the road.
The girl’s helmet, ripped off in the attack, had been flung into the woods, Basinger said. Hill said the helmet probably saved the girl from further injury.
Officials declined to identify the victim.
Rick Sinnott, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game, went to the scene and said it could have been the same grizzly sow that charged two runners about two weeks ago on a nearby trail.
Police were called at 1:35 a.m. after another bicyclist found the mauled girl down and dazed on the ground.
She was among about 60 participants in a 24-hour race sponsored by the Arctic Bicycle Club. The team event began at noon Saturday and was to end at noon today. Organizers canceled it after the attack and were trying to account for all the other riders.
The girl had just come off the Gasline Trail north of Hilltop ski area and was entering the Rover’s Run Trail, which goes along the south fork of Campbell Creek, when the bear attacked, Sinnott said.
Most likely, he said, the grizzly was fishing for salmon in the creek and might not have heard the cyclist coming due to stream noise and strong winds roaring through the forest, he said.
Warning signs are posted in the area, although the city has not officially closed the trails to use.
It’s definitely not unheard of, Sinnott said, for a bear to charge someone moving by on a bicycle. In fact, the motion combined with surprise could trigger what was an “unintentionally provoked” attack, he said.
After the mauling, the girl used her cell phone to call 911 but was unable to communicate, Sinnott said.
Sinnott said he didn’t arrive in time to see the victim before she was taken to the hospital, but he learned from emergency responders that the girl suffered multiple injuries.
The bear bit her on the head, torso and thigh, Sinnott said. She also had a “sucking chest wound” caused by a puncture to the lung cavity.
It was close to 3 a.m. when Sinnott and two police officers emerged from the spooky near-solstice night to the South Bivouac Trailhead parking lot on Campbell Airstrip Road. Sinnott carried a 12-gauge shotgun.
The bear was nowhere to be seen, but the woods are dangerous, he said. He set about tacking up signs to warn people.
Mills, the police officer, opened a bag containing the injured girl’s bicycle helmet, which the bear had chewed up.
It was lucky she had the helmet on, as the bear attempted to chomp her head, Sinnott said.
He questioned the wisdom of bicyclists riding all night through bear territory.
“A midnight race along a salmon stream is probably a pretty bad idea when the salmon are there,” Sinnott said.
Contact the reporters at bbragg@adn.com and wloy@adn.com.
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