A hunter has been killed by a grizzly bear in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Park officials said in a statement that the hunter was killed Sunday, attacked while the hunter and a friend were near the Chisana River drainage, according to the National Park Service. The two were on a 10-day moose hunt.
“The incident is the first known bear mauling fatality recorded in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve since the park was established in 1980,” wrote NPS in a statement.
The hunter’s identity has not been released pending an investigation.
A message left with the park seeking more information Wednesday wasn’t immediately returned.
Visitors are encouraged to be Bear Aware when traveling in the backcountry and take precautions such as carrying bear spray and using Bear Resistant Food Containers (BRFC).
The closet community to the park is Copper Center, which is about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northeast of Anchorage. The park is 13.2 million acres (5.3 million hectares) which the park’s webpage says is the size of Switzerland, Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park combined.
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