Overview
- A woman in the Old Mammoth neighborhood went outside after hearing her dogs on Monday and found one dog fighting with a black bear, which then attacked her and later the man who came to help.
- The woman struck the bear with a water bottle to free her husband, who retrieved a hatchet and struck the animal multiple times, critically wounding it and stopping the attack.
- The couple drove themselves to Mammoth Hospital with significant but nonfatal injuries and their dogs suffered minor injuries and are expected to recover.
- Mammoth Lakes police located the injured bear and California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists humanely euthanized it as a public-safety threat, and CDFW is leading an ongoing investigation that has not yet determined what provoked the encounter.
- Officials placed the episode in the wider context of rising human-bear encounters in California—where an estimated 60,000 black bears live—and reminded residents to secure food and garbage and keep pets leashed to reduce conflicts.