Sow Makes Clean Getaway after Wisconsin Bear Attack—DNR Ends Search

iSportsman Staff

By now, she’s long gone.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has officially shut down its two-week search for a black bear sow that mauled a 69-year-old woman outside her rural home in Barron County, Wisconsin, July 12. Despite trail cameras, live traps and round-the-clock monitoring, the bear slipped through without a trace, despite officials on the scene after the attacking spying a cub up a nearby tree.

According to DNR reports and coverage from multiple news agencies, the woman was in her backyard near Comstock when the sow attacked. The injured woman somehow managed to call 911 and was airlifted to safety. Authorities believe the attack was defensive in nature—most likely a mother bear protecting the cub in the tree.

What followed by wildlfe and law enforcement officials was a full-court press. The DNR teamed up with USDA Wildlife Services and the Barron County Sheriff’s Office, deploying six live traps, motion-sensing cameras and patrols. Over the next two weeks, they captured and released two adult male bears, two yearlings and two unrelated sows in what was the bear version of stop-and-frisk. None matched the bear involved in the attack.

Even a dead female hit by a car and found 1.6 miles away was ruled out after a necropsy revealed it was not the bear involved in the attack.

“After two weeks of round-the-clock surveillance on the property and no additional signs of the sow involved, our current options are exhausted,” DNR large carnivore specialist Randy Johnson said in a statement quoted by Outdoor News.

Officials say if the sow had been caught, she would’ve been euthanized per agency protocol in cases of confirmed attacks on humans. As for the cub—if it resurfaces—it’ll be relocated and released, as it’s believed to be old enough to survive on its own.

The woman, whose name has not been officially released, remains in stable condition.

Bear attacks in Wisconsin are rare. In fact, black bear attacks in general are rare. But this case serves as a reminder that human–wildlife conflicts don’t always have a neat ending and everyone in bear country needs to remain vigilant whether hunting, hiking, camping, fishing or simply gardening or taking the trash out.

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