A wild-nature” target=”_blank”>grizzly bear< woman from her tent and killed her earlier this week was fatally shot early Friday by wildlife officials, who used night vision goggles to stake out a chicken coop that the bear raided near the town where the woman was attacked.
The bear was shot by federal wildlife workers shortly after midnight, when it approached a trap set near the coop about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Ovando, where Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, us-regions was killed early Tuesday morning, said Greg Lemon with us-regions Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The bear had raided the chicken coop overnight Wednesday, and officials set a baited trap nearby hoping to lure the animal back, Lemon said.
“Based on the size of the bear, the color of the bear and the nature of the chicken coop raids, we’re confident we’ve got the offending bear,” he said. Lemon said tracks found at the site of the coop matched tracks found in Ovando.
Ovando has fewer than 100 people and borders a huge expanse of forested lands that stretches to the Canada border and is home to an estimated wild-nature” target=”_blank”>1,000 grizzlies. Bear attacks<
She and her party were camped near the town’s post office and museum when a wild-nature” target=”_blank”>grizzly bear<, taking riders over mountain passes and through big, open meadows, Key said.
“A lot of the towns on the route, small towns in the middle of the mountains, tend to be really welcoming to divide riders coming through,” Key said. “There’s a couple farms and ranches along the way that allow riders to come stay with them. It’s kind of a communal feeling to it. Everyone’s really welcoming.”
Lokan, a registered nurse who had worked at a hospital in Chicous-regions would have fit right in, said Mike Castaldo, president of the Chico Cycling Club.
“She had a really good spirit. She always had a smile on her face. Always lit up when she saw you. Always gave you a big hug,” said Castaldo, who knew Lokan for about 15 years. “But I think most of her identity was, you know, outside on the bike, enjoying the outdoors was her thing.”
She participated in mountain bike races and was a road cyclist and experienced outdoorswoman.
“I think she was competitive, but that was secondary to the journey or the adventure she was on that particular day,” he said Thursday.
This April 26, 2006, file photo, shows Jacobsen Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Blackfoot River near Ovando, Mont. Authorities say a grizzly bear attacked and killed a person who was camping in the Ovando area early Tuesday, July 6, 2021. ( Jennifer Michaelis/The Missoulian via AP, FIle)
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Investigators gathered DNA evidence from the scene of Lokan’s death and will compare it to samples gathered from the dead wild-nature” target=”_blank”>grizzly bear< Fish, Wildlife and Parks said.
The approximately 400-pound bear was seen by a video camera at a business about a block away from the post office about 15 minutes later, wildlife officials said.
About 4:15 a.m., the sheriff’s office received a 911 call after two people in a tent near the victim’s were awakened by sounds of the attack, Roselles said. They discharged their bear spray, and the bear ran away.
The bear is also believed to have entered a chicken coop in town that night, killing and eating several chickens.
Bears that attack people are not always killed if the mauling resulted from a surprise encounter or the bear was defending its young. But the bear involved in Lokan’s death was considered a public safety threat because of the circumstances of the attack.
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Authorities hunted for the animal over three days, using helicopters and search crews on the ground and setting out five large traps made from steel culverts and baited with roadkill.
On Thursday night, an Ovando woman came home and found her door ripped off and noticed large claw marks on the house, Roselles said.
Lemon said wildlife officials don’t have enough evidence to draw any connection between the damage to the house and the bear that killed Lokan, because they don’t know when the house was damaged.
