The three-year-old girl who was attacked by a black bear at a Red Lodge campground over the weekend is set to be released from the hospital.
According to the family, who were visiting Red Lodge from the Washington state area near Spokane, Madison Findley-Dickson will still have a long recovery process ahead of her after she was attacked in her sleep inside the family’s tent at Perry’s RV Park and Campground.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) said that they did trap and euthanize a black bear in the area rangers believe attacked the girl, but the agency can never be 100% certain if they killed the correct one.
The bear was a sub-adult female that FWP said had never had any other conflicts with humans, but after this weekend, they found it necessary to kill the bear in order to protect humans.
FWP said that there were many unsecured attractants found in the tent, including garbage, food, drinks that weren’t water and some dirty diapers.
FWP’s communications manager Chrissy Webb said the story is a tragic reminder of how important it is to be as bear aware as possible.
“We always want to remind folks to store those items,” Webb said. “That’s everything from garbage to food to, you know, scented toiletries. To store those in a hard-sided vehicle or other, you know, certified bear-resistant container to make sure to avoid instances like this, where bears are attracted to a tent because there are items with a scent in there.”
