Bozeman man attacked twice by same bear

BOZEMAN (AP) — Authorities say a 50-year-old Bozeman man was attacked twice by bear attending to its cub and was able to drive himself to a hospital.

Madison County Sheriff Roger Thompson said the first attack occurred Saturday morning. The man used bear spray, rolled into a ball to play dead and the bear chewed on him.

The man headed back to the trailhead and was attacked again, apparently by the same bear. After the second attack, the bear wandered away and the man escaped.

“It’s like being struck by lightning twice in the same day; you don’t get attacked by the same bear in one day,” Thompson said. “I think he should go out and buy a lottery ticket now.”

Thompson said the bear may have been a grizzly.

“He did everything he was supposed to do,” said Thompson. “He got a small fracture in his left forearm when the bear jumped on him.”

“She just seemed to lose interest because he was playing dead. Then she just wandered off. Bears can be that way when they have their babies with them,” Thompson said.

The man was bleeding and drove himself 17 miles to the Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis. He called the sheriff’s office to report the attacks.

“There was a lot of blood in his vehicle,” said Thompson.

The man is expected to survive after being treated at the hospital. His name has not been released.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will determine what will happen to the bear.