Grizzly attacks Pablo student

A Salish-Kootenai College student was mauled by a grizzly bear with two cubs Friday morning near the campus dormitories just outside Pablo. 

The student sustained three bites and was transported to Kalispell to receive medical attention, according to Audrey Plouffe, the school’s interim vice president of business affairs. College administrators said the student’s injuries were not life-threatening and he was in stable condition.

The bear encounter occurred around 10:30 a.m.

“It does appear he was out walking in a field and he was unaware there was a sow and two cubs nearby,” Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin said Friday afternoon. 

“The sow charged him, most likely in a defensive manner. After the attack, she didn’t linger in the area. ... From reports we’re getting, she’s moving north.”

Stacy Courville, wildlife biologist with the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes, said the student was hiking alone in a brushy area along Mud Creek just east of the college. Courville is continuing to monitor the area.

Rich Janssen, head of the tribal natural resources department, wished the victim “a full and speedy recovery” and advised hikers to be aware that the reservation is bear county, with habitat that is home to black bears and grizzly bears.

In response to the incident, the college went on lockdown and students were asked to stay indoors or travel in large groups. College officials canceled afternoon classes. 

“We’re pretty much on a shutdown,” Plouffe said.

“The hard part is getting people to take [the alert] seriously,” Plouffe added. “We mean business and so does the bear.”

Pablo Elementary School Principal Fran Ciez said students were kept inside during recess as a precaution.

Yonkin said Lake County search-and-rescue teams were going door-to-door in the area, advising residents of the incident.

“We were told to stay indoors,” Thomas Tall Bull said as he leaned out the window of his student housing unit.

Tall Bull, a senior studying fish and wildlife, said he has seen bears before, but never near campus.

“I’m just thankful for the alert and that they’re letting people know,” he said, referring to the campus alert system, which, among other things, sends text messages to student and college employee phones.

Only a couple hundred yards away, at the clubhouse of the Silver Fox Golf Course, college student and Silver Fox employee Reed Anderson Jr. echoed his gratitude for the alert system. He was on the course practicing his chipping when he received word of the attack.

“We knew about it quick,” Anderson said.