On August 21, a fisherman was attacked by a black bear in a surprise encounter on Montana’s Stillwater River. The angler escaped with non-life-threatening injuries, Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks (FWP) said in a recent press release, after the bear clawed his face and then ran from the scene.
“The bear’s behavior was likely defensive in the surprise, close encounter,” the FWP press release states, adding that “there are no efforts to capture the bear at this time.” The man was fishing near the community of Beehive, about 70 miles southwest of Billings. He reported the incident to FWP after leaving the scene and didn’t seek any medical attention.
According to FWP spokesperson Chrissy Webb, the angler had a fish on the end of his line when the attack took place. “It happened on a part of the Stillwater River with a lot of background noise, and there were a number of natural food sources in the area,” Webb tells F&S. “They both startled each other, and the angler was understandably distracted—trying to land the fish.”
The incident comes on the heels of another rare black bear attack which took place near the town of Red Lodge, Montana on the evening of Sunday, August 11. That attack involved a subadult sow black bear that injured a young girl while she was sleeping in a tent at a private campground south of town.
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The child was transported to a hospital in Billings, and FWP trapped and killed the bear the following day. Employees with the agency later found unsecured garbage, a cooler, and food in and around the tent that the girl was sleeping in. The bear had no known history of conflict with people prior to the attack on the girl, but it was porbably habituated and food-conditioned after accessing unsecured attractants in the area, FWP said.
