A remote camera captured an image of a grizzly bear in Ovando, Montana. Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
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Leah Davis Lokan was killed by a grizzly bear while camping in Ovando, Montana, last year.
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A new report found that 65-year-old Lokan scared off the bear an hour before he returned and killed it.
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Lokan declined an offer to stay at a hotel after she chased the bear away, the report said.
A woman was killed while camping in Montana after a bear she had scared off earlier returned and attacked her in her sleep, a new report by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Commission found.
Leah Davis Lokan, a 65-year-old bicyclist and retired nurse from California, was killed by the bear while camping in Ovando, Montana, in the early hours of July 6, 2021.
The 26-page report, which was released earlier this month, found that Lokan chased the bear away an hour before it returned and killed it in its tent.
Lokan, who was traveling with her sister, was sleeping alone in her tent behind a museum when the attack happened, the report said.
Her sister was staying at a nearby hotel, but Lokan was in a tent next to a couple named Joe and Kim Cole, the report said.
At approximately 3 a.m., Lokan woke up to a 417-pound bear “snarling” at her head from outside her tent, the report said. She quickly alerted Coles, who helped her scare off the bear by making loud noises, the report said.
Lokan immediately moved the food out of his tent and armed himself with a can of bear spray, the report found.
Coles then asked her if she wanted to stay in a hotel room for the night, but she declined the offer and went back to sleep, the report said.
An image of a grizzly bear in Ovando, Montana on July 6, 2021. Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
An hour later, around 4 a.m., the couple awoke again to a noise that sounded like Lokan had been attacked, although she was not making any noise at the time, the report said.
Jay Cole told officers he saw the dark shape of the bear “pouncing up and down” on Lokan and her tent as he tried to scare it off, according to the report.
The bear broke Lokan’s neck and severed her spine, and she was killed instantly, the autopsy found, the report cited. The bear did not attack others and ran away, the report said.
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DNA tests confirmed that the same grizzly bear also broke into a chicken coop hours after the attack. The same bear, which was between four and seven years old, was killed by officials a few days later, the report said.
The report also included an image captured by a remote camera that showed a bear that officials believe was involved in the attack.
Read the original Insider article
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