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A woman suffered serious injuries when a bear attacked her outside of her home in southern Alaska, authorities said.
The woman, 36, had left her house in Kenai, a coastal city some 150 miles southwest of Anchorage, at around 5:45 a.m. local time on Tuesday to go for a jog, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety. In a public , state troopers said the bear attacked the woman near her driveway, where a neighbor ultimately found her.
Alaska Wildlife Trooper David Lorring told TheNews affiliate that the woman was only about 50 years away from her house when she encountered the bear, which bear "dragged her approximately 100 yards down the road" to the neighbor's property.
Officers at the Kenai Police Department received notice of the attack at 6:58 a.m. that morning, according to the public dispatch. They responded to the scene and medically evacuated the injured woman to a hospital in the Anchorage area for treatment. State troopers and a crew from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game joined police to search for the bear on foot while a drone scanned the region from above, but they were unable to find the animal. Authorities believe the animal was a brown bear, based on its tracks and other evidence, KTUU reported.
"Patrols of the area will continue, and the public is advised to remain vigilant while outdoors," the public dispatch read.
Wildlife troopers warned residents of the jogger's Kenai neighborhood "to be on high alert following a bear attack in the area," advising people to "supervise children and pets closely" and secure any outdoor items that could attract the animal, like trash and pet food.
"If you encounter a bear, keep a safe distance and do not approach," troopers .
Hundreds of thousands of black and brown bears exist throughout Alaska, in addition to several thousand polar bears that roam the northern parts of the state, according to the state's Fish and Game Department. Population densities vary, but wildlife officials say that their prevalence may be as high as in southern areas where food sources are abundant, such as the Alaskan peninsula where Kenai is located. Efforts to conserve the region's brown bear population have been underway .
Alaska residents are encouraged to learn about living with bears, as the state is considered but bear attacks on humans are still relatively rare. A from state health officials noted that 10 people died and 68 were hospitalized for injuries sustained in bear attacks throughout Alaska between 2000 and 2017.
In July, officials in Anchorage warned people to avoid streams with running salmon after two hikers were mauled by bears in separate incidents that took place within a week of each other, the reported. Neither hiker suffered life-threatening injuries.
