Bear attacks hiker on narrow Alaska trail during rough weather

A woman hiking with a friend and three dogs in southern Alaska was injured Saturday evening when a brown bear attacked her on a tight, overgrown trail, authorities said.

Anchorage Police said the attack happened around 5:30 p.m. local time in Bear Valley, an area the Alaska Department of Fish and Game described as containing a “social trail.” The agency said the stretch where the group met the bear was narrow, switch-backed and crowded with heavy vegetation, leaving little visibility.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said high winds and bad weather at the time may have made it more likely that the bear was startled by the hikers and their dogs, even if the group was making noise.

Fire officials found the injured woman, carried her down the trail and took her to a nearby hospital, according to Anchorage Police. Police said her injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Initial reports suggested one of the dogs had been killed in the attack, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said. The agency later said that was not the case after another hiking group found the dog alive and uninjured.

Drones used during rescue

Anchorage Police said officers used drones to survey the area and locate the bear so rescuers could reach the woman safely. The department said that use of drones during bear incidents is a protocol it has started using over the past year.

The bear involved was a brown bear, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The agency says Alaska is also home to black bears and polar bears, with hundreds of thousands of bears living across the state.

In southern parts of Alaska, wildlife officials estimate there may be as many as one bear per square mile, according to information from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Officials say attacks on people remain relatively rare, even in Alaska’s bear country, but serious encounters do happen. Alaska state health officials reported that 68 people were hospitalized and 10 died from injuries in bear attacks in the state between 2000 and 2017.

Other recent bear attacks

The Bear Valley incident follows another brown bear attack earlier this month in Kenai, farther south. The Alaska Department of Public Safety said a local resident was mauled after a brown bear climbed over a fence into her front yard with two cubs.

State troopers said the resident had gone outside with her two dogs and fired three or four shotgun rounds to try to scare the bears away. The adult bear then attacked her, and troopers said she suffered serious injuries.

In Canada, Saskatchewan officials said last week that a bear was euthanized after authorities said the animal killed a married couple in the McTavish Lake area.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.