A grizzly bear pulled a woman from her tent in the middle of the night Tuesday in Montana and killed her, according to wildlife officials.
Grizzly bear drags woman out of her tent in Montana and kills her
The victim, Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, California, was on a long-distance bicycle trip when she was attacked in the western Montana community of Ovando, about 60 miles northwest of Helena.
She died at about 3:30 a.m., before fellow campers in an adjacent tent were able to use bear spray to scare off the animal, which weighed about 400 pounds.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the bear was captured on surveillance footage from a business located less than a block from the post office.
Authorities added that the bear got into a chicken coop sometime during the night and ate several chickens. At this time the bear has not been located, once found it will be euthanized.
FWP wardens and bear specialists will continue to monitor the area closely, and efforts to find the bear are now focused on traps near Ovando, they added “At this time, our best chance to catch this bear will be the placement of culvert traps in the area near the chicken coop where the bear killed and ate several chickens,” said Randy Arnold, FWP regional supervisor in Missoula.
“Lokan was a registered nurse who worked at a hospital in Chico and had been waiting months for the bike ride to Montana,” said Mary Flowers, a friend of the victim.
“A woman in her 60s who did this kind of thing, she had a passion for life that was off the charts,” Flowers said.
