Grizzly bear wanted by police after killing a cyclist near Glacier National Park

The attack is the 11th killing by a bear since Glacier National Park’s inception in 1910

(Nathan Rupert/Flickr)

Authorities are searching for a grizzly bear, who they say attacked and killed a 38-year-old cyclist riding just outside Glacier National Park in Montana.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said that Kalispel native Brad Treat was killed on Wednesday while riding the trail in the Halfmoon Lakes area of the Flathead National Forest.

The area will remained closed off as police search for the grizzly.

Sheriff Curry said that Treat, a law-enforcement officer for the US Forest Service, was riding with another cyclist when they surprised the grizzly bear, who knocked him off his bike. The second rider immediately fled the scene to find help and was not injured in the attack.

“Brad was an integral member of our area law enforcement team and a friend to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family tonight,” Sheriff Curry said, according to the Flathead Beacon.

The deadly attack marks the 11th killing by a bear since Glacier National Park’s inception in 1910.

Northwest Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states, the Beacon reports, with more than 1,000 bears calling the region home.