LA GRANDE — Bear attacks are rare in Oregon, but that is exactly what happened to a La Grande man near the Mount Emily Recreation Area during the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 24.

Just after 7:30 a.m., the 911 Communication Center received a call that a bear had attacked a person on Owsley Canyon Road, according to a press release from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

ODFW identified the victim as Craig Lankford, of La Grande. He was transported to Grande Ronde Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.

During the attack Lankford put both arms in front of his face to protect his head, according to Lankford’s wife, Trina.

“Craig went into this attack a very healthy 59-year-old man, and his health combined with his extensive knowledge of how to fend off a bear attack is solely responsible for his survival,” she said.

His arms, as well as the top of his head, were cut by the bear’s claws, Trina Lankford said. The bear also got his arm in its jaws, leading to bite lacerations and hematomas in his forearm.

Lankford is now home and healing, she said. As one might expect after wrestling with an adult bear, he is very sore. They are watching for any signs of infection as bear mouths are full of bacteria.

“We are grateful Mr. Lankford survived this encounter and wish him a smooth and speedy recovery,” ODFW Watershed Manager Jeff Yanke said in the release.

Lankford encountered the bear the previous evening of May 23, when he shot the animal for harassing his chickens, according to the press release. He went out the next morning to search for the bear and again found it near his property. Lankford shot the bear again and shortly afterward the bear attacked him.

Union County Sheriff’s deputies and medical services arrived on scene at the same time, according to ODFW. Upon arrival, deputies closed the roads and the Mount Emily Recreation Area. Oregon State Police and ODFW were then notified. Both agencies quickly arrived on scene and created a search plan for the bear. The United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services also provided assistance.

Shortly before 10:45 a.m. a bear that matched the victim’s description was found near the site of the attack, according to the press release. The bear was euthanized and bullet fragments consistent with the victim’s report later confirmed it was the one involved in the attack.

Yanke said it is legal for someone in Oregon without a bear tag to kill a black bear if it is doing something like threatening one’s chickens or trying to enter their residence.

Bears in Oregon

Oregon is home to between 25,000 to 30,000 bears, according to ODFW. While bear attacks are rare, they tend to occur when bears are wounded, when they are being fed by people and lose their natural wariness, or when they are surprised by people or their dogs.

Wounded bears can be dangerous. The Department of Fish and Wildlife is aware of at least three incidents where hunters were attacked by bears they shot, but did not kill. Oregon has not documented any fatal bear attacks.

ODFW encourages everyone recreating outdoors or living in bear country to take simple steps to reduce the risk of bear encounters and conflict.

Yanke said the best way to protect yourself from black bears is to never leave any type of food sources outside that will attract them. This means people must not leave their garbage out and be sure to clean their grills.

Phil Gillette, of La Grande, an experienced hunter who has worked as a guide, advises hunters to be careful when approaching bears they believe they have killed, because the animal may still be alive.

“Bears can play dead,” he said.

Hunters should approach bears from behind, Gillette said, since this gives them a better chance to escape if the bear is still alive and jumps up to charge them. Gillette said this advice should also apply to hunters taking deer. He said that in the eastern United States hunters have been injured by charging white-tailed deer they approached from the front after assuming they were dead.

Gillette said that nationwide black bears may attack more people than any other bear species. He believes the reason is black bears come into populated areas more often than other bears.

He said black bear problems have become more prevalent since 1995, when the use of dogs in hunting bears was banned following the passage of Measure 18 in 1994. The presence of dogs helps keep black bears away from populated areas, Gillette said.

He noted that since Measure 18 took effect some people with tracking dogs have run their canines through areas to scare them away.

History of black bear attacks

Black bear attacks are rare. Only five cases of human-bear interactions have been documented in Oregon in which a human received injuries, according to information provided by the ODFW.

The first documented attack occurred in August 1988 in the Wallowa Valley. The attack was in the Ferguson Ridge area southwest of Wallowa Lake. The victim, a Wallowa County resident, was chased up a tree and bitten by a black bear. It appears that the victim’s dog may have agitated the bear, according to the ODFW’s Black Bear Management Plan, which was written in 2012.

The second documented injury occurred on May 31, 2008, in Douglas County, and was the result of a hunter searching for a bear that had been wounded during a hunt. The bear attacked the hunter and was dispatched by the hunter with the aid of another person. The hunter suffered injuries to his arm and received medical treatment.

A third documented incident occurred on June 29, 2008, at a residence in Sandy. The resident sustained minor injuries when she checked on a noise on a porch and a bear swatted her leg. The bear apparently had been attracted to garbage cans and birdseed. After extensive culvert-trapping and tranquilizer darting efforts, a female and two cubs were captured. It could not be confirmed that this female was the correct bear, so it was relocated with the cubs to a different area, according to the Black Bear Management Plan.

The fourth recent documented bear attack in Oregon took place on Aug. 24, 2009, near Coos Bay. A bear believed to be dead attacked a hunter. The hunter was able to dispatch the bear and was treated for a bite wound to his leg.

A fifth documented attack took place on May 10, 2020, when a man walking near Creswell with an unleashed dog surprised a bear and it attacked him, according to a press release on the ODFW’s website. The man suffered lacerations and punctures on his forearm as well as lacerations to his torso and head.