Cyclist mauled by bear in Alaska

The man ‘jumped off his bike and began yelling at the bear’, state troopers said

Officials said that the brown bear could have been alarmed by the bike (Getty Images/ Image used for representational purpose)

A cyclist in Alaska’s rural borough was chased down and attacked by a brown bear last week but he managed to make a miraculous escape and is being treated for his injuries, officials said.

The Alaska State troopers said the man was cycling along the Jack River when he spotted the bear just 30 feet away from him and then was chased by it.

On seeing the animal run towards his bicycle, the man “jumped” off and “began yelling at the bear,” the state troopers said, according to a report by The Daily Beast.

The bear, expected to weigh around 500 pounds, proceeded closer to the man, who fell to the ground and covered his head. He also kicked at the animal before losing control in the fight.

The animal hit the man’s lower right leg, below his knee, according to a release by the troopers.

The bear mauled him, the release said, adding that it “retreated into the vegetation the same way it approached”.

The man was carrying a gun, troopers said in their release, but chose not to use it.

Shortly after the bear retreated into the wild, the wounded man went to a nearby highway and called his friend who took him to a medical clinic.

He is being treated for “puncture wounds and a laceration,” the report said. Puncture wounds are deep in nature, signalling forceful injury, and are caused by pointed objects sharp enough to sharply penetrate through the skin. Lacerations are caused by the tearing of soft body tissue.

Officials said the bear could have been alarmed by the bike.

The bear could have turned on its prey because it was “kind of triggered by the motion of the bike,” Joelle Hepler, an official with the state’s Department of Fish and Game, was quoted as saying.

The man, who had also noticed bear tracks in the snow, believed that the bear was alone at the site of attack, according to a local report.

“The victim stated he did not notice anything out of the ordinary prior to the mauling but did say he noticed bear tracks in the snow,” the report citing troopers read.

No additional probe is needed at the moment, troopers said.