Search continues for bear that mauled Kern County woman
State game wardens set a trap at the site of the attack. The victim is recovering after 10 hours of surgery.
State game wardens continued their search today for a bear that mauled a Kern County woman in a remote area east of Bakersfield.
Wardens set a trap for the bear at the spot where the woman, hiking with her two dogs, was attacked Tuesday, and they used hound dogs in their hunt for the animal, said Kevin Brennan , a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game.
When the bear is caught, it will be euthanized, he said.
One of the hound dogs used in the search had an altercation with a bear Tuesday night, but it was unknown if it was the same bear that attacked the woman. The dog was not seriously injured and the bear was not captured, Brennan said.
The woman has now undergone 10 hours of surgery at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and is expected to recover, her neighbor told television reporters.
The injured woman was identified by the neighbor as Allena Hansen, 57, who owns property either on or near where the attack took place Tuesday, about four miles north of the town of Piute.
The hospital would not release her condition or other information, citing privacy concerns. But her neighbor, August Dunning, said she was "lucid, active and probably pretty sore" after undergoing surgery Tuesday for severe cuts to her head and face. Dunning had talked to her by telephone.
Hansen managed to get away from the bear and into her vehicle after she was attacked, authorities said, and she drove several miles to a fire station. She was airlifted to the hospital.
Some of Hansen's clothing was taken for testing to match against the fur of the captured bear, Brennan said.
Investigators have not yet interviewed Hansen.
Dunning said Hansen owns a ranch in the small rural community of Twin Oaks and was walking in heavy underbrush Tuesday morning when she was attacked. He described her dogs as an English mastiff and an Irish wolfhound. They were unhurt.
Although the attack occurred near the site of a recent brush fire, Brennan said he did not know if the bear attack was related.
He said wardens were confident that the bear would return to the scene of the attack, where they have set the trap, because "bears are creatures of habit."
amanda.covarrubias
@latimes.com
