The popular mountain trail is home to black and brown bears. Photo/123RF
The popular mountain trail is home to black and brown bears. Photo/123RF
A teenage boy who was fatally mauled by a black bear during a weekend mountain race in Alaska reportedly called his brother while he was being chased by the animal, according to officials.
Patrick Cooper, 16, of Anchorage was attacked Sunday afternoon after he had passed the halfway mark and got lost and veered off the trail during the juniors division of the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb race south of Anchorage, race director Brad Precosky said.
He reportedly placed a frantic phone call to his brother saying he was being chased by a bear.
His brother then alerted race organisers who began searching for the boy.
A couple of hours passed before emergency workers found the boy's body being guarded by the 113kg bear, which was then shot by rangers before it ran away, race organiser Precosky said.
The boy's body was flown from the scene, Alaska State Troopers said, while Fish and Game spokesman Ken Marsh said park authorities were scouring the area for the bear.
Marsh said the attack was believed to have been a rare predatory move, not a defensive action such as when a female bear will protect her cubs.
"It's very unusual," Marsh said of the mauling. "It's sort of like someone being struck by lightning."
Matt Wedeking, division operations manager with Alaska State Parks, said the bear's predatory behaviour was not normal. Asked if there were cubs around this black bear, he said, "We don't know. There could have been. But right now I don't have any information about the bear."
The last fatal mauling in the state occurred near Delta Junction in Alaska's interior in 2013, when a man was killed by a male black bear, Marsh said.
The last fatal bear attack in the greater Anchorage area was in 1995, when two people were killed in the Turnagain Arm area by a brown bear protecting a moose carcass, he said.
A sign warning people that rangers are still hunting the wounded bear. Photo/AP
Areas where wilderness races such as Sunday's take place are inherently risky when it comes to bear encounters, Precosky said.
Competitors in the Bird Ridge race sign a liability waiver as part of the registration process. But competitors often train alone in such areas and are fully aware of the dangers.
Races actually can be said to cut down on the risk of a bear encounter because so many people are there, making noise and making their presence known, Precosky said. "There's no safer time to be on a mountain than on a race," he said.
Earlier reports say Cooper texted his mother that the bear was being chased by the bear, but Precosky said he could not confirm that.
In a separate incident an underground gold mine contractor taking geological samples at Pogo Mine was killed and another was injured when they were set upon by a black bear about 480km northeast of Anchorage on Monday.
Alaska State Troopers and federal mine officials are investigating the mauling.
