Bear Returns To Kill Woman In Her Sleep After She’d Scared It Away An Hour Earlier 

A woman was killed during a camping trip in Montana last year when a bear she’d scared off earlier returned and attacked her in her sleep.

65-year-old, Californian, Leah Davis Lokan fatal encounter with the 417-pound grizzly bear took place on July 6 last year while camping in Ovando, Montana, according to a report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC).

Lokan had pitched her tent next to a couple named Joe and Kim Cole, according to the report and was sleeping alone while her sister and travel partner stayed in a nearby hotel.

The report found that Lokan had a previously engaged with the bear just one hour before it returned and killed her in her tent at 4am in the morning.

She refused an offer from the Coles to stay in a hotel room after the initial interaction and reported moved food out of her tent and armed herself with bear spray before going back to sleep.

The autopsy report found that Lokan was killed instantly: the bear severed her spine and broke her neck. DNA tests confirmed that the same 4- to 7-year-old grizzly bear also raided a chicken coop hours after the attack.

The bear could be seen “pouncing up and down” on Lokan and her tent, having dragged the tent about eight to 10 feet.

The bear was killed by officials several days later according to the report.