A 14-year-old girl taking part in an all-night mountain bike race is in a critical condition after a mauling by a grizzly bear in Anchorage, Alaska. "She was cut up and bit pretty good," a police officer, Jean Mills, told the Anchorage Daily News.
The girl was bitten on her head, torso and thigh, and also had a "sucking chest wound", caused by a puncture to the lung cavity, said a state biologist, Rick Sinnott, who went to the scene with medics. He said the bear had probably tried to bite her head off. Her cycling helmet was found chewed in nearby woods.
"The local bear expert said it's probably a sow grizzly," said Cleo Hill, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage fire department. "One has been sighted in the area recently."
The attack took place at around 1.30am on Sunday in woods near Anchorage. It is the second suspected grizzly attack in the area in two weeks.
After the mauling the girl tried to call for help on her mobile phone, but was unable to communicate, police said. She was found slumped on the ground by another cyclist who used her phone to call for help. She mumbled the word "bear", but was unable to say anything else.
Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into the woods, hiking about half a mile to reach the girl, Hill told the paper. They carried her on a stretcher across the same route to reach an ambulance waiting on the road. She later underwent surgery at the Providence Alaska Medical Center.
Police Lieutenant Paul Honeman said the family requested that no more information be issued on the girl's condition. "Their daughter is in a battle for her life," he said.
The girl was on a stretch of trail that runs parallel to a river stocked with salmon, a popular feeding place for grizzly bears. "A midnight race along a salmon stream is probably a pretty bad idea when the salmon are there," Sinnott said.
The cycle race was called off, but cyclists and hikers continued to use the area later on Sunday.
The girl was bitten on her head, torso and thigh, and also had a "sucking chest wound", caused by a puncture to the lung cavity, said a state biologist, Rick Sinnott, who went to the scene with medics. He said the bear had probably tried to bite her head off. Her cycling helmet was found chewed in nearby woods.
"The local bear expert said it's probably a sow grizzly," said Cleo Hill, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage fire department. "One has been sighted in the area recently."
The attack took place at around 1.30am on Sunday in woods near Anchorage. It is the second suspected grizzly attack in the area in two weeks.
After the mauling the girl tried to call for help on her mobile phone, but was unable to communicate, police said. She was found slumped on the ground by another cyclist who used her phone to call for help. She mumbled the word "bear", but was unable to say anything else.
Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into the woods, hiking about half a mile to reach the girl, Hill told the paper. They carried her on a stretcher across the same route to reach an ambulance waiting on the road. She later underwent surgery at the Providence Alaska Medical Center.
Police Lieutenant Paul Honeman said the family requested that no more information be issued on the girl's condition. "Their daughter is in a battle for her life," he said.
The girl was on a stretch of trail that runs parallel to a river stocked with salmon, a popular feeding place for grizzly bears. "A midnight race along a salmon stream is probably a pretty bad idea when the salmon are there," Sinnott said.
The cycle race was called off, but cyclists and hikers continued to use the area later on Sunday.
