An Eagle River woman says she’s grateful to be alive after a black bear attacked her dog near Skilak Lake earlier this month. She’d been foraging in a popular outdoor Kenai Peninsula recreation area.
Sunday, June 7 was a great day for mushroom hunting near Cooper Landing. At least, that’s what Lori Price thought. She’s a self-described avid outdoors woman who’s lived in Alaska for two decades. And until then, she had never had a violent encounter with a bear. But that all changed quickly.
Price said she was foraging near the Upper Skilak Lake Campground when she heard her 3-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer, Chaos, make what she described as a screeching yip noise. At first, she said she was in disbelief.
“It dawned on me when I started hearing those sounds after that, that it was like holy crap, like this is really happening,” she said. “My dog is getting mauled by a bear, and that bear is super close.”
Price says she ran through tall Devil’s club and dense alder toward Chaos, stopping when she came face-to-face with a black bear. She pulled her 9 mm glock pistol and fired at the bear, which she said dropped “like a sack of potatoes.” She shot and hit it again when it got back up. She says she isn’t sure whether a third shot actually hit the bear.
Price, Chaos, and her Chocolate lab, Willis, who was unharmed in the incident, ran back to the road, where she flagged down a car. The driver, an off-duty Homer police officer, gave Chaos first aid while Price fought bad reception to call 9-1-1. After talking with an emergency dispatcher, first responders and wildlife officers, Price got permission to get Chaos to a vet.
The Kenai Animal Hospital is about 30 miles from the west end of Skilak Lake Road. Price says an on-call emergency veterinarian was waiting for her and Chaos with a gurney when they got to Kenai. Price says Chaos was diagnosed with a broken tail and multiple wounds to his back.
“When I walked around before we loaded him, my heart sunk and broke,” she said. “I had no idea that he had been bit and chomped so many times by that black bear.”
Pictures taken by Price of Chaos at the vet show multiple large punctures on his shaved back, and a criss cross of lacerations and gashes. He faced a setback Sunday evening, according to a post Price shared on social media. A Soldotna vet determined Chaos is also suffering from a broken vertebrae and dead muscle tissue.
The Friday following the attack, Alaska State Trooper Spokesman Austin McDaniel said troopers tried to track the bear, but didn’t find one, dead or alive.
Price says she’s received a lot of criticism since sharing her story on social media – from the type of gun she was carrying to using e-collars for her dogs instead of leashes. But she says she doesn’t have any regrets.
“For all the haters, I did what I needed to do, and I would do it again for going out there, for my – not putting my dog in that situation, I would never want that – but I would go out and enjoy the outdoors,” she said.
In general, bear attacks are rare. But they do happen. State data from 2019 found 68 were hospitalized or died after bear attacks between 2000 to 2017. That’s an average of around four attacks per year. More than 40% of attacks, the largest proportion, occurred in Alaska’s Gulf Coast region, which includes the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak.
Last year, a bear mauled a Kenai woman jogging near her home. And two hikers in Seward were injured after being attacked by a brown bear on the Exit Glacier Trail in Kenai Fjords National Park.
The Skilak Lake area, which sits in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, has also seen bear attacks in recent years. Two kayakers paddled six miles to safety in 2021 after being mauled by a bear on the shore of Skilak Lake, near where Price was foraging last weekend. And a 72-year-old man was attacked while hiking the Hidden Creek Trail, which ends at Skilak Lake in 2023.
Price says the attack hasn’t curbed her love of foraging. After losing her voice from all the screaming, she says the scratchy cadence is proof of healing. She’s thinking about getting a bigger gun, and she won’t be returning to that particular area anytime soon.
“I'm just really grateful the way it turned out, and I hope that with the recovery of my dog is gonna be okay,” she said.
To stay safe during bear season, biologists recommend stowing bear attractants, like fish waste and food, in a bear-proof container. Hikers should make noise or talk while on the trail, and carry bear bells and bear spray. Look for signs of a bear in the area, like tracks or scat, and try to avoid surprising bears when possible.
If you encounter a bear that does not notice you, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends backing away quietly. And if you encounter a bear that does notice you, wave your arms in the air and speak to it in a loud voice. If a bear approaches you, stay still. If a bear attacks, lay on your stomach and play dead, covering your head and neck with your hands.
