A black bear mauled and injured a 3-year-old girl in a tent at a private campground in Montana just north of Yellowstone National Park over the weekend, state wildlife officials said.
The girl was attacked at about 10 p.m. Sunday at a campground south of Red Lodge and taken to the hospital in Billings. Fish, Wildlife and Parks didn’t have any information on her condition on Tuesday, game warden Randy Hutzenbiler said.
The campground was evacuated and traps were placed in the area. A bear believed to have been involved was captured and euthanized on Monday afternoon, Hutzenbiler said.
“FWP believes it was the bear involved in the incident but is continuing with capture efforts at the site until tomorrow afternoon for due diligence,” the agency said in a statement on social media.
The wildlife agency still has traps in the area.
“There were attractants in the area,” Hutzenbiler said, which can include food and unsecured garbage.
Billings couple Don and Lisa Wilcox told MTN News that they frequently hike in the area and tents are vulnerable.
“The campfires and the food is out and about and everything like that, you’re gonna see it draw some wild animals,” Don Wilcox told the station, adding that he and his wife no longer sleep in tents and always carry bear spray.
The wildlife agency recommends keeping food, garbage and anything with a scent out of tents and stored in bear-resistant containers or vehicles.
In 2021, a grizzly bear pulled a woman from her tent in a small Montana town in the middle of the night and killed her.
Black bears are smaller than grizzlies but they still can have dangerous interactions with humans. In March, a western Pennsylvania woman was seriously injured by a black bear after letting her dog outside. Last year, another woman was attacked by black bear while walking her dog in Connecticut.
In June, an autopsy found that a California woman who was found dead in her home back in 2023 was killed by a black bear — the state’s first-ever recorded case of such a deadly attack.Â
