Montana town of grizzly attack a popular stop for cyclists
HELENA Mont. (AP) - A tiny western Montana town where a grizzly 耐える pulled a woman from her テント and killed her this week welcomes 訪問者s year-一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the mountain valley community along the banks of a river made famous by the movie "A River Runs Through It."
They come to Ovando to fish, 引き上げ（る）, （軍の）野営地，陣営 and float the river in the summer and to snowmobile, cross country ski or snow shoe in the winter.
The warmer months also bring bicyclists 横断するing the scenic 広大な／多数の／重要な Divide Mountain Bike 大勝する, which this year runs nearly 2,500 miles (4,023 キロメーターs) from northern Montana to southern New Mexico.
A break in the long-心配するd ride on that 大勝する is what brought Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, California, to the town on Monday for an 夜通し stay, her friends said.
She and her party were （軍の）野営地，陣営d 近づく the town´s 地位，任命する office and museum when a grizzly 耐える pulled her out of her テント and killed her 早期に Tuesday, 公式の／役人s said. It was the second time the 耐える was at the campsite that night, they said.
野性生物 公式の／役人s spent Thursday trying to find and kill the だいたい 400-続けざまに猛撃する (181-キログラム) 耐える, but （機の）カム up empty for a third straight day.
A 耐える 罠（にかける） 始める，決める by Montana Fish, 野性生物 and Parks 始める，決めるs Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in the （軍の）野営地，陣営ing area in Ovando, Mont., where bicycle tourist Leah Davis Lokan of Chico, Californ ia, was pulled out of her テント and killed by a grizzly 耐える 早期に Tuesday. (Tom Bauer/Missoulian 経由で AP)
The 郡保安官 の近くにd the informal campsites around town at least until Sunday and the town opened up a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 駅／配置する and church for cyclists to sleep inside. The town already had an old 刑務所，拘置所 that had been remodeled with some cots for campers, said Kathleen Schoendoerfer, who owns the Blackfoot Angler fishing shop with her husband, Travis Thurmond.
Ovando sees about 1,000 cyclists per year who are traveling the 広大な／多数の／重要な Divide 大勝する, Schoendoerfer 概算の, with 変化させるing numbers staying 夜通し.
The 大勝する loosely follows the 大陸の Divide, at times zig-zagging over it on gravel roads, dirt roads and 追跡するs and some 選び出す／独身 跡をつけるs, said Dillon 重要な, who 作品 at 広大な／多数の／重要な Divide Cyclery in Helena. There are also some 主要道路 miles.
The 大勝する is "絶対 gorgeous" through Montana, taking riders over mountain passes and through big, open meadows, 重要な said.
"A lot of the towns on the 大勝する, small towns in the middle of the mountains, tend to be really welcoming to divide riders coming through," 重要な said. "There´s a couple farms and ranches along the way that 許す riders to come stay with them. It´s 肉親，親類d of a communal feeling to it. Everyone´s really welcoming."
Lokan, a 登録（する）d nurse who had worked at a hospital in Chico, California, would have fit 権利 in, said マイク Castaldo, 大統領，／社長 of the Chico Cycling Club.
"She had a really good spirit. She always had a smile on her 直面する. Always lit up when she saw you. Always gave you a big 抱擁する," said Castaldo, who knew Lokan for about 15 years. "But I think most of her 身元 was, you know, outside on the bike, enjoying the outdoors was her thing."
She 参加するd in mountain bike races and was a road cyclist and experienced outdoorswoman.
"I think she was 競争の激しい, but that was 第２位 to the 旅行 or the adventure she was on that particular day," he said Thursday.
Lokan had been looking 今後 to the Montana bike trip for months, said Mary Flowers, another friend from Chico. Lokan had taken long-distance bike trips and on this one was …を伴ってd by her sister and a friend, Flowers said.
"She was talking about her summer 計画（する）s - this wonderful wild adventure, riding her bike on, I don´t know, a 400-mile trip or something," Flowers said. "A woman in her 60s, and she´s doing this 肉親，親類d of stuff - she had a passion for life that was out of the ordinary."
Another friend remembered Lokan as a 解放する／自由な spirit with many friends.
"She always 迎える／歓迎するd you with a smile. She was one of those people that was always up for an adventure and always made you to feel like you were the 中心 of her attention at all times," said Leesa Stefano, who met Lokan when Stefano moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, in 2006 and got 伴う／関わるd in a bicycling club to which Lokan belonged.
Stefano said Lokan was the type of person who would find a way to check in with everyone at some point to make sure friends knew they were still part of her life.
"We were all really excited for her, because we know what it meant," Stefano said about the bike ride. "We couldn´t wait to hear the stories. It´s considered an epic ride."
Lokan and two others were （軍の）野営地，陣営ing when a 耐える startled them at 3 a.m. Tuesday before wandering off, Montana 野性生物 公式の／役人s said. The bicyclists 除去するd food from their テントs, 蓄える／店d it and went 支援する to sleep, 公式の／役人s said.
About 4:15 a.m., the 郡保安官´s office received a 911 call after two people in a テント 近づく the 犠牲者´s were awakened by sounds of the attack, Powell 郡 郡保安官 Gavin Roselles said. They 発射する／解雇するd their 耐える spray, and the 耐える ran away.
Lokan was "井戸／弁護士席 詩（を作る）d in what she was doing. She knew the dangers," Castaldo said, 示唆するing she may have let her guard 負かす／撃墜する while （軍の）野営地，陣営ing in a town, rather than along the 追跡する.
"The fact that it was 権利 in town - that's pretty messed up," Thurmond told the Missoulian.
People who （軍の）野営地，陣営 in grizzly 耐える country - whether 深い in the 支持を得ようと努めるd or in a developed campground - are advised to keep food and scented 製品s like toothpaste away from their campsites at all times and to cook どこかよそで.
If a 耐える comes through a campsite, it´s important to stay on 警戒／見張り for the animal to return, said Greg Lemon, spokesperson for the Montana Department of Fish, 野性生物 and Parks.
野性生物 公式の／役人s 最初 used ヘリコプター flights to search for the grizzly. They also 始める，決める up large 罠（にかける）s - made out of culverts and baited with roadkill - in and around Ovando. That 含むd 罠（にかける）s 近づく a chicken 閉じ込める／刑務所 that the 耐える （警察の）手入れ，急襲d the night Lokan was killed, 同様に as 近づく the campsite.
捜査官／調査官s 得るd デオキシリボ核酸 left by the 耐える in the attack and could compare it with any bruin they are able to 罠（にかける）. 耐える specialists and game wardens also were 駅／配置するd 近づく the 罠（にかける）s to shoot the animal if the 適切な時期 arises, said Greg Lemon, spokesperson for Montana Fish, 野性生物 and Parks.
"Our best chance would be if the 耐える comes 支援する and tries to get another chicken or some more food around town," Lemon said.
The wardens feel they could easily identify the 耐える, which was 記録，記録的な／記録するd on a 蓄える／店´s 監視 camera in the minutes after its first visit to Lokan´s campsite, Lemon said.
"If they saw that 耐える at the 罠（にかける） and had a （疑いを）晴らす 発射 at it, they might choose to do that."
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This story has been updated to 訂正する the last 指名する of one of the owners of the Blackfoot Angler fishing shop. She is Kathleen Schoendoerfer, not Loendoerfer.
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Brown 報告（する）／憶測d from Billings.
A ヘリコプター from Montana Fish, 野性生物 and Parks 飛行機で行くs around the Ovando, Mont., area on Tuesday, July 6, 2201, in search of a 耐える that killed a camper 早期に that morning. The search for the 耐える continued Wednesday. (Tom Bauer/The Missoulian 経由で AP)
A Montana Department of Fish, 野性生物 and Parks ヘリコプター lands in Ovando, Mont., on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, after searching for a 耐える that killed a camper 早期に that morning. The search for the 耐える continued Wednesday. (Tom Bauer/The Missoulian 経由で AP)
FILE - This April 26, 2006 とじ込み／提出する photo, shows Jacobsen Creek, a 支流 of the North For k of the Blackfoot River 近づく Ovando, Mont. 当局 say a grizzly 耐える attacked and killed a person who was （軍の）野営地，陣営ing in the Ovando area 早期に Tuesday, July 6, 2021. ( Jennifer Michaelis/The Missoulian 経由で AP, FIle)
