Grizzly Bears Cracks Bear Researchers Skull

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Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode whisks us away to the Cabinet Mountains which cross the Idaho and Montana borders. The elevation of this mountain range vary between around 2000 feet along the Kootenai River in Idaho and 8740 feet on the ranges highest point, Snowshoe Peak. The Cabinet Yaak Mountain Ecosystem covers about 2600 square miles and has been labelled as a grizzly bear recovery zone according to the Vital Ground Foundation website. In this mountain system forests of hemlock, pine, fir and spruce trees with birch trees grow along bodies of water. The primitive forests here are nearly pristine and have been well preserved, making it a great place to learn about the 50 grizzly bears that roam the mountain range. Deer, elk and moose are common prey for the predators here, which include cougars, wolves, coyotes and black bears, as well as grizzly bears.
Along the drainage of Poorman Creek just south of Libby 28 year old Amber Kornak was tasked with checking the grizzly hair collection stations. These stations are built out of barbed wire which snags the hair as bears rub against it. This allows for the compilation of a DNA database of bears in the area and is critical to studying the bears.
Wayne Kasworm worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and had hired Amber for temporary seasonal employment. Amber had graduated from Oregon State University in 2016 with a bachelors degree in fisheries and wildlife management. The study of animals was her passion and she had hopped from job to job seeking to fulfill her passion and turn it into a permanent career.
Amber’s assignment would required that she spend hours hiking remote trails alone. She had completed specialized training on how to be safe and how to handle animal attacks while in the field. She had even completed training in similar disciplines as a 16 year old hunter.
Amber grew up in Michigan but had globe trotted with employment assignments in wildlife agencies in Oregon, Missouri, Florida and Idaho. She made Montana her permanent home, no matter where her assignments took her.
On May 17th, 2018 Amber had been in the field for three days. At around 11 AM she had just pulled a bundle of bear hair from one of the barb wire snags set up for that purpose. She had three or four more snags to retrieve samples from and was hiking near Poorman Creek, which was surging with loud spring runoff.
Typically Amber would use a whistle to alert bears or other animals of her presence in their territory, or she would stomp her feet as she hiked, and clap her hands loudly as she walked between snags. She was well trained in safety measures and practiced them with discipline. Amber wasn’t carrying a firearm but was carrying her bear spray as she completed her hair collection duties.
At one point in her hike, Amber heard a loud and very close “Woof!” to her left. She quickly glanced in the direction of the noise and could see a huge grizzly bear only 12 feet from her. She knew that this was a critical point in the confrontation, as she had clearly surprised the bear as much as it had surprised her. She knew the grizzly would either attack her or bolt in the opposite direction, and hoped for the latter.
Amber knew that given the proximity of the run in, her best option was to play dead. She turned to her right and dropped to the ground in the nearest bush, hoping that her backpack might absorb any attack from the grizzly. By the time she did this, she could already feel the grizzly pressing into her back. She could feel a powerful slap from the grizzly on her back and its claws tearing into her arm. She reached down to her bear spray, which she had holstered on her hip, and flipped the safety guard off.
That is when she felt the bears teeth clamp onto her skull. The back of her head was the easiest portion of her head for the bear to access, so that is where it drove its teeth. The bears canines pierced and fractured her skull, popping her bones and sending fragments into her brain.
As the bear was trying to kill her, Amber defiantly stretched her left arm toward the bear with her bear spray in her hand. She pressed the button on the canister from point blank range and doused the bears nose, eyes and mouth. The irritant also covered the area around Amber, and affected her negatively as well.