Wildlife officers searched the rural Snohomish County area and set a trap after the bear could not immediately be located.
INDEX, Wash. — A woman was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries after a black bear attacked her from behind Sunday morning while she was walking her leashed dog near her rural Snohomish County home, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Oct. 25 attack occurred near Index Galena Road, east of the small town of Index. Wildlife officials said the bear knocked the woman to the ground and continued attacking her while she was down. She managed to get back inside her home and call authorities. Officers later searched the area with dogs but did not locate the animal, and a trap was placed near the scene as officials increased patrols.
State wildlife officials said two black bears had been seen in the area and that they could have been an adult female and a cub. Officials had not confirmed that relationship or established why the attack occurred. The woman’s name has not been released. Fish and Wildlife officials said she had not provoked the bear and described the encounter as an unusually serious wildlife incident.
Accounts released in the first hours after the attack differed on some details. The Sultan Police Department initially said a resident was taking out trash when a mother bear and cub were encountered and described the injuries as minor. Later accounts attributed to Fish and Wildlife officials said the woman had been walking her dog in her backyard when a bear approached from behind and left her with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The state wildlife account was also reported by local and national news organizations Monday.
The attack happened shortly before 8 a.m. near Index Galena Road and U.S. Route 2, according to local reporting. Fish and Wildlife officers responded that morning and used dogs during their effort to find the bear. By Monday, officials had not publicly announced that the animal had been captured. Police warned people in the immediate area not to approach or disturb a bear or cub if either animal was spotted.
The incident came during a year in which Washington wildlife officers have responded to several black bear encounters involving injuries. On Oct. 18, a woman was injured outside Cusick in Pend Oreille County after she and her spouse went looking for a bear that had been shot with a crossbow the previous day. Fish and Wildlife officers later located and killed a bear near that scene. In September, the agency also reported separate encounters that injured people at residences in Pend Oreille and Whatcom counties.
Despite those incidents, attacks on people remain uncommon. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in June that the state had recorded about 20 human-black bear encounters resulting in documented injuries since 1970 at that time. The agency has identified one fatal black bear attack on a person in Washington, in 1974. More injury incidents have been reported since the agency published the June figure.
Black bears are widespread across most of Washington. Fish and Wildlife estimates about 22,000 black bears live in the state across different land ownerships. The agency says bears generally avoid people but can enter residential areas, and fall can bring increased activity around food sources as bears prepare for winter. Garbage, pet and livestock food, bird feeders, fruit and outdoor grills are among the attractants wildlife officials have identified.
Fish and Wildlife advises people who encounter a black bear to remain calm and avoid running. The agency recommends backing away while monitoring the animal and identifying oneself as human by standing upright, raising the arms and speaking in a low voice if a bear approaches. Officials also recommend keeping pets leashed in bear country and having bear spray readily available during outdoor recreation.
As of Monday, Fish and Wildlife police were continuing to monitor the Index area with increased patrols after the initial search failed to locate the bear. Officials had set a trap near the site of the attack, and no capture had been publicly announced. The circumstances surrounding the encounter remained under investigation.