Two teenagers were hurt in a bear attack in King County, Washington, after an encounter on the trails of Mount Si. According to officials who spoke to FOX 13, one of the teens was swiped by the bear during the incident, in what authorities describe as a rare and frightening encounter on a popular hiking route.
Eastside Fire and Rescue said the attack happened while a group of young people was out on the trail. The King County Sheriff's Office told FOX 13 that the group was about three miles up the trail when a black bear charged at them and swiped at one of the teenagers, leaving the young person with several scratches.
A second teen was also hurt during the chaos. Officials said that while trying to run away from the area, the other teenager twisted an ankle. Both injuries happened quickly as the group scrambled to get away from the animal on the wooded mountainside.
Investigators believe the encounter turned dangerous because the group had unknowingly come between a mother bear and her cub. According to the sheriff's office, witnesses reported seeing a mother bear along with a number of cubs nearby, which would help explain why the animal behaved so aggressively toward the hikers.
Officials stressed that this kind of attack is very uncommon. Typically, they said, when a bear knows people are present, it wants to go the other way. In this case, the bear most likely went after the group in defense of her cubs, rather than seeking out a confrontation with the hikers.
Authorities used the incident to remind hikers to stay noticeable and visible on the trails so that bears are aware of their presence. They noted that injuries from bear encounters remain rare in the area, with only about twenty reported injury cases since 1970, the most recent one before this having occurred in 2022.