1 killed, 2 hurt, in Montana bear attack

COOKE CITY, Mont., July 28 (UPI) -- A bear attacked campers in a Montana campground early Wednesday, killing one of them and wounding two others, authorities said.

Ron Aasheim of the state Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department said it appeared the victims were camped in different locations of the Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City and were attacked separately sometime between midnight and 2 a.m., KTVQ-TV, Billings, Mont., reported.

Only one bear was suspected in the attacks, the report said. It wasn't known whether it was a black bear or a grizzly.

Aasheim said the man who died was dragged from his tent, where he had been camping alone. His body was found the western edge of the campground.

The Billings Gazette said officials had set five culvert traps in the campground to try to capture the animal.

The 10-acre campground was evacuated and closed to campers following the attacks, as were two other nearby campgrounds, the newspaper said.

"Our hope is that it is in the area and will return this evening, and then we'll have some answers as to why," Sam Sheppard, warden captain for the department's Bozeman office, told the Gazette.

Campers Paige and Don Wilhelm of Fort Worth, Texas, said they heard a scream coming from the next campsite over about 1:30 a.m.

"I heard somebody yell, 'Stop, no,'" Paige Wilhelm said.

They then heard a bear come by their tent.

The couple and their two sons got into their vehicle and drove to the woman's campsite, discovering the injured woman. Not knowing if the bear was still around, they drove around the campground honking their minivan's horn to scare it and look for help. They said they then came across a teenage boy who had been bitten on the leg. The youth told them he had freed himself by punching the bear in the head.

Other people soon showed up, with one, a nurse, attending to the wounded.