A woman was seriously injured when she was attacked by a bear that approached her and her husband on the deck of a New Mexico ski shelter, authorities said Saturday.
The bear approached one foot of the couple when they sat outside on Friday night, then chased the woman before attacking her in the parking lot of the ski area outside Los Alamos, the state department of hunting and fishing.
The woman was hospitalized for injuries that included several broken bones, a collapsed lung, bite marks, and scratches.
Los Alamos police officers who responded to a 911 call from the woman’s husband shot and killed a bear that was eating trash nearby, the department said.
A forensic laboratory will analyze DNA samples to determine if the bear killed by police was involved in the attack.
Tristanna Bickford, a department spokeswoman, said encounters with bears are not uncommon in Los Alamos and that animals sometimes use drainage systems to enter the city from the Valles Caldera National Reserve and other areas in search of food.
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