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Bear attack in northern Michigan

Black bear carrying fish carcass
Alan Vernon
/
Creative Commons
A Black bear carrying a decaying Salmon near Hyder, Alaska.

Bear attacks are something we're used to hearing about out west or in Alaska, but in northern Michigan it can be rare just to see one.

The Detroit Free Press reports a hunter fought off a mother bear that was trying to climb into his tree stand.

Chad Fortune was bow hunting when two cubs tried to climb into his stand. He pushed them off, but the mother of the cubs put up more of a fight. Fortune was treated for his injuries at a nearby hospital. Wildlife officials say they plan to euthanize the bear.

I searched around for the last time Michigan had a fatal bear attack and found an article from 1948 in the Miami News. The paper reported on a posse tracking down and killing a bear that had snatched a 3 year-old from a front porch in St. Ignace.

Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.