A bear attacked a woman in Winhall on Wednesday, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
While bear attacks are extremely rare in Vermont — only four others have been documented in the state’s recent history — Wednesday’s incident marks the second attack this year.
Sarah Dietl, 43, is recovering at home after sustaining injuries that were not life-threatening.
Dietl let her dog outside at her condominium complex Wednesday evening, and the dog chased a bear cub up a tree, according to a release issued by the department.
The cub’s mother then charged Dietl, knocked her to the ground, and “began to maul her,” Dietl told officials.
When Dietl cried for help, her partner intervened and successfully separated her from the bear, bringing her inside. The couple opened the door for their dog, but the bear charged the door, preventing the dog from entering.
Officials later found the dog, a Shih Tzu, unharmed.
The couple called 911. Winhall Police and Rescue responded to the scene, along with game wardens from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Dietl was transported to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington late Wednesday night. She was treated for injuries to her head, hand and side, and was released in stable condition on Thursday.
Game wardens searched for the bear, its cubs and the dog until 1:20 Thursday morning without success. They returned later that morning to continue their investigation.
A bird feeder had been available outside the condominium complex until mid-October, according to their investigation, and a bear-proof Dumpster on the property was damaged and not being used properly. It also appeared bears had been eating decorative pumpkins outside the complex.
A female bear with cubs had been seen often in the area throughout the summer and fall, officials said. Game wardens are still attempting to locate the bear.
Lt. Jason Gravelle, a warden with the southern district office of Vermont Fish & Wildlife, said that if officials locate the mother bear with cubs in the area, they would need to assess its behavior before deciding whether to euthanize it.
The mother could decide to flee the area, he said, or she could become more aggressive toward humans.
Officials weigh such decisions carefully when a bear has cubs, he said. If they euthanize the bear, the cubs would be taken to Kilham Bear Center in New Hampshire for rehabilitation.
“Before letting pets out at night, I would urge Vermonters to light their yards and make plenty of noise to allow wildlife in the area time to move on,” Game Warden Kyle Isherwood said in a statement. “Along with securing food that could attract wildlife into a developed area, steps like this are important for the safety of people and wildlife.”
While bear-human interactions have been increasing through the past several years, state officials say the increase has been more dramatic this year.
In August, a bear attacked a woman in Strafford who was walking on her property with her dogs.
In that case, the woman sustained some injuries and received preventive rabies care. Officials guessed the bear had been protecting cubs and had been surprised by the woman’s dogs.
“Increasingly bold and high-risk behavior from bears is due to Vermonters’ failure to take the proactive steps needed for safely coexisting alongside a healthy black bear population,” said Jaclyn Comeau, a biologist who leads the Fish & Wildlife Department’s Black Bear Project. “This failure puts both people and bears in danger.”
While bear attacks are rare in Vermont, it is “absolutely critical that Vermonters take every step to secure food sources that might attract bears into close proximity with people,” Comeau said.
Correction: Because incorrect information was supplied by Vermont Fish & Wildlife, an earlier version of this story gave an incorrect town for the bear attack.