Oct. 16—A hunter in northern Idaho was attacked by a grizzly bear near the Canadian border on Wednesday.
The hunter was not injured and fired four shots in self-defense, the Border County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Neither the bear nor any blood was immediately found. It’s unclear if the bear was hit by any bullets, but it’s “likely” there was an injured grizzly in the area, the post said.
The hunter was on state land along State Highway 1 near Porthill, a transit town north of Bonners Ferry.
North Idaho is part of what bear managers consider the Selkirk Recovery Area. It’s one of six areas where federal officials are working to retrieve the bears, which have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1975.
The latest low count estimates there are at least 57 grizzly bears in the U.S. portion of the Selkirk Mountains, including parts of northeastern Washington state.
In May, a black bear hunter accidentally shot a grizzly bear north of Priest Lake in neighboring Bonner County.
