State wildlife officials believe a grizzly bear is responsible for an attack on a man outside Whitefish yesterday evening. The man was walking with his adult daughter and two dogs on F.H. Stoltze property in the Haskill Basin area when they unknowingly separated a sow from her two cubs.
John Fraley, spokesperson for FWP, says the bear charged past the daughter and attacked the man.
"He deployed pepper spray and then he deployed it again as the bear was right on top of him, and the bear did leave the area," Fraley said.
The man sustained non-life threatening injuries, including bites on his wrist, shoulder and head.
FWP has closed the area to recreation and set up four camera traps as part of an ongoing investigation. The agency is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and hasn’t yet decided next steps.
Fraley advises people to carry bear spray and know how to use it before heading into the woods.