JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – A woman suffered lacerations to several parts of her body after a brown bear attacked her on an Anchorage military base.
The woman, who has asked that her identity not be released, was in stable condition Monday at the Alaska Native Medical Center, Maj. Angela Webb told The Associated Press.
The woman and her soldier husband were jogging late Sunday morning on the northern part of the base when they became separated. The woman happened upon the bear, which had two cubs with her.
"They had essentially startled one another," Webb said.
According to varying accounts the military could not immediately straighten out, the woman either was knocked unconscious by the bear or played dead, which is the appropriate response when meeting a brown bear, Webb said.
The bear swiped at her once, and she suffered lacerations to her neck, arms and legs. A passer-by picked her up and took the woman, who was conscious then, to the base hospital. She was later transferred to the Anchorage facility.
"It was very quick, and she didn't remember much," Webb said of the attack and what the woman could recall.
Base officials have closed recreational areas around the part of the base where the attack took place, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson police are asking anyone to come forward if they witnessed the encounter.
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