According to Montana wildlife officials, Brad Treat, who was recently killed by a bear while mountain biking in Montana, collided with the bear on the trail, multiple sources report.
“Sight visibility at the location of the collision is very limited and the collision was unavoidable,” FWP officials said in a press release Saturday, according to the Flathead Beacon. “The bear reacted which led to the attack.”
Since the bear has not returned to the area and the attack appears to have been defensive, there is little reason to pursue the bear further. Multiple commenters on the Singletracks Facebook page claimed that the bear would be hunted down and killed. In general, only bears which have been proven to be killer bears (IE have hunted and killed humans for food), or who have eaten a human body, are hunted down and killed. Nothing in the initial report indicated that either of these things took place, so the controversy created by said commenters was premature and unfounded. Based on the latest report, the bear is not being pursued.
As a result of this new perspective on the case, the search for the bear is winding down, and bear traps and cameras are being removed from the area. However, the investigation is still ongoing: officials have collected “DNA samples from the scene to officially confirm whether it was a grizzly bear or a black bear,” according to the Beacon. Initial reports specified that it was a grizzly bear, but black bear fatalities, while less common, have occurred in the area. At this point in time, officials are not certain what breed of bear is the culprit.
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Jul 6, 2016
Jul 7, 2016