U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-– In the early morning hours of July 6, 2021, in the village of Ovando, Montana, mere feet from several buildings, Leah Lokan was attacked by a 417-pound grizzly bear. She valiantly used bear spray in an attempt to stop the attack. The bear spray failed. Ms. Lokan was a small but strong woman. She was killed in the unprovoked predatory attack. (Leah Lokan is remembered by a friend.)
While not the first bear spray fatality in 2021, the attack and defensive failure are well documented in the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) report released June 28, 2022.
The 417 lb boar grizzly first approached the two tents of Leah Lokan and her acquaintances at about 3:08 a.m on the morning of July 6, 2022. From igbcconline.org:
The victim’s sister, Kim Lokan, identified the victim as Leah Davis Lokan, a 65-year-old female resident of Chico, California. Investigators responding to the scene found two tents. Leah Lokan had been sleeping alone in one tent. The other tent, belonging to acquaintances of the victim Joe and Kim Cole, was approximately 20 feet from the victim’s tent and was undisturbed (Figure 2, Figure 3). After going to bed earlier in the night, the Coles were awakened at approximately 3:08 am by Ms. Lokan crying out “bear, bear.” The bear was several feet from the two tents, exploring the area at the time Ms. Lokan became alerted. Joe and Kim Cole both had Counter Assault brand bear spray with them in their tent. They woke up; Joe grabbed Kim’s bear spray and they both began making noise. The bear walked off to the north into
