Hiker injured by bear on Jones Point Trail in Haines

A hiker attacked by a bear on the Jones Point Trail in Haines on Monday afternoon self-rescued and is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Alaska Wildlife Troopers said. The bear has not been found.

The attack happened around 4 pm. Troopers were not notified until about 11 pm. The bear is believed to be a sow with a cub. Troopers and Haines police are trying to locate it, and Fish and Game is investigating.

The dispatch does not say whether the hiker was alone, whether she carried a deterrent, or whether the trail has been closed.

It is the second bear attack in Haines in under a month. On Aug. 29, a resident walking a leashed dog on Mt. Riley Road was seriously injured and treated in Juneau. Investigators found food waste dumped near the road and sent DNA samples to the state's conservation genetics lab in Anchorage. Fish and Game said its investigation suggested, rather than confirmed, a defensive response. The borough closed the Lily Lake Trail afterward. That bear has not been identified either.

The department draws a line between two kinds of encounters. Defensive ones happen "when bears act aggressively because they feel threatened," such as a hiker surprising a female with cubs. Non-defensive encounters involve bears that are curious, testing dominance, or used to human food. In those, the advice is to show the bear you will fight.

A state epidemiology bulletin covering 2000 through 2017 counted 68 people hospitalized after 66 bear attacks in Alaska. Seventy percent of those hospitalizations happened between June and September.