Hikers “had to fight off” bear that attacked in national park, Alaska officials say

Two hikers were hospitalized after fighting off a brown bear on an Alaskan trail, officials said Wednesday. 

The two people, who were not named by authorities, were about a quarter-mile up the Exit Glacier Trail in the Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, Alaska, the state Department of Public Safety said in a news release. The trail allows access to a number of routes within the park, according to the National Park Service. 

The hikers “had to fight off the bear” and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the department said. They were admitted to an emergency room at a hospital in the area. 

The trail was closed, the department said, and was set to be assessed by biologists, state troopers and wildlife troopers on Thursday morning. Information about that assessment was not immediately available. Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Both black and brown bears can be found in Kenai Fjords National Park, the park service says on its website. Brown bears are more likely to defend their food or personal space, the agency said, though both species mostly ignore humans. Hikers who encounter bears should give them “plenty of room” and avoid startling them, the park said. Hikers should also avoid attracting bears by disposing of garbage in bear-safe containers and properly storing food. Humans should never feed bears, the park service said. 

It is unclear what caused the bear to attack the two hikers. The National Park Service recommends that people who are attacked by a brown bear “fall to the ground and play dead” in a defensive posture, but “fight back vigorously” if the bear continues biting. 

The Kenai Fjord National Park is located on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska, about 125 miles from Anchorage. It spans over 600,000 acres and is a popular destination for hiking, camping and more, according to the National Park Service. Visitors can experience glaciers, mountains and fjords.

Bear interactions are not unusual in the area, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. A woman in Kenai, a town that borders the national park, was attacked last month by what authorities believed was a brown bear. The woman had stepped out for a jog, her family said, when the bear attacked and dragged her about 100 feet. She survived, but was hospitalized with substantial injuries.