A 53-year-old bear guard working with a seismic crew near Anchor Point was mauled by a brown bear sow Tuesday morning, according to Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement Troopers.
Chuck Brady of Soldotna was reported to be in good condition Tuesday afternoon at Central Peninsula General Hospital in Soldotna where he was taken by private helicopter after the attack.
Troopers said Brady was guarding a Veritas Geophysical crew doing seismic blasting, when he discovered what appeared to be a bear den.
Upon closer inspection, Brady was attacked by the bear and he managed to get off one shot with a 12-gauge shotgun slug, said Trooper Alex Arduser in Soldotna.
Brady received lacerations to his lower leg, buttocks and the back of his shoulder, Arduser said.
Co-workers managed to get Brady out of the immediate area, and he was flown by a company helicopter to CPGH.
Following his evacuation, a guard supervisor and another bear guard tracked the severely injured bear for about 200 yards and killed it, according to Alaska State Trooper Todd VanLiere in Homer.
VanLiere said the bear hide and skull were salvaged as required by defense of life and property killing incidents.
A spokesperson for CPGH said Brady had undergone treatment Tuesday afternoon and was admitted to the hospital.
In a similar incident involving seismic work on the Kenai Penin-sula, Audelio Luis Cortes, 40, of Charo, Mexico, was killed by a bear in the Swanson River area in February 1998.
The bear bit the man's skull, killing him instantly.
Cortes and five others were working for Northern Geophysical of America Inc., laying seismic testing equipment near an undetected bear den.
Cortes was killed within 25 feet of the den. The others escaped injury.
