ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska officials say they are still investigating a fatal mauling by a black bear near a gold mine to definitively determine if the attack was predatory in nature as initial reports indicate.
State Fish and Game officials said Friday an analysis is pending after an autopsy was performed on the bear.
Twenty-seven-year-old mine contract worker Erin Johnson of Anchorage died and her 38-year-old co-worker Ellen Trainor of Fairbanks sustained minor injuries in the attack Monday about 5 miles from the Pogo Mine. The bear was killed later that day.
The attack was the second fatal black bear mauling this week.
On Sunday, 16-year-old Patrick “Jack” Cooper was killed after he got lost and veered off a trail during a mountain race south of Anchorage.
Officials killed that bear Tuesday.
