Montana authorities are currently investigating and tracking down the bear that caused the 38-year-old, biker’s death. According to authorities, the biker was a U.S. Forest Service employee who was riding Montana’s Glacier National Park with a colleague.
On Wednesday, Brad Treaty was riding his mountain bike along a colleague when they surprised a grizzly bear in the mountains. Treaty was knocked off his bike by the animal, when the other rider went off to get help. Investigations are still being made to determine whether the bear’s attack displayed what authorities describe as ‘predatory behavior.’ Which means the animal stalks the human to consume them.
Wildlife authorities track and kill the beast when investigations show predatory behavior, yet the case calls for further research. So far officials are hunting down the bear, to determine if it was a mother or if it acted out of surprise.
“One of the things that are key to all this is whether it was a predatory act. I don’t think there’s any sense that this was predatory,” said Montana’s wildlife spokesman Ron Aasheim
Authorities are protecting tourists and local visitors of the national park, by closing the area until investigations are finished.
Ongoing investigation
With traps on the trees and cameras, authorities are tracking down the bear that caused Treaty’s death on the extensive area that has a large population of grizzly and black bears.
Authorities can perform a DNA test to compare evidence at the scene with bears they track down, yet it’s a tough job, to find the specific one that caused the incident. An autopsy is being made on the victim to grab details on the bear’s age, 10size, and sex.
Since the park opened in 1910, there have been ten human deaths due to bear attacks, the last one being in 1998. Grizzly bears were considered threatened species since 1970, despite having increased population numbers.
Nearby citizens and tourists have been alarmed by the happening and are taking precautions when in the area.
In May, a Minnesota woman was attacked on her deck after filling her bird feeders, the 59-year-old woman, was knocked on the ground and suffered injuries yet managed to call 911 to ask for help. She was then treated at the hospital for her injuries.
Authorities later explained the bear had cubs, and bears tend to be very protective when it comes to their cubs.
Source: Chicago Tribune