Montana wildlife officials trap grizzly bear, cubs after deadly attack

COOKE CITY, Mon. - Montana wildlife officials have captured a female grizzly and two of her three cubs in a campground near Yellowstone National Park where a man was killed and two others injured in a bear attack.

The mother, estimated to weigh 136-180 kilograms, was lured into a trap fashioned from culvert pipe Wednesday evening, then left in place to attract the year-old offspring.

By Thursday morning, two of the younger bears had been caught and the third could be heard nearby, calling out to its mother.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard said he was confident they had captured the killer bear because it came back to the same site where the man was killed early Wednesday.

Sheppard describes the attacks as highly unusual and predatory, as opposed to an attack in which a sow might be protecting her cubs.

Officials have said the sow will be killed. State and federal wildlife officials will determine the fate of the cubs. Sheppard said they are unlikely to be returned to the wild.

A London, Ont., woman camping near the park survived the bear attack by playing dead.

Deb Freele, 58, said she woke up in her tent to a bear biting her arm and could feel her bones breaking.

Her screaming only made it worse, so Freele did something incredibly difficult given the circumstances -- she played dead.

The bear eventually walked away.

Freele said she thinks it was a grizzly bear. If that's the case, she did the right thing, according to survivorman Les Stroud.

"You aren't going to intimidate a grizzly bear, you can't outrun them," Stroud said.

But, anyone who encounters a black bear should be aggressive and stand his or her ground.