JUNEAU, Alaska — A man who teaches classes on the outdoors was mauled by a bear Monday during a mountaineering class in the Alaska Panhandle, according to a university spokeswoman.
Forest Wagner, 35, of Fairbanks, was with a group of 12 students on Mount Emmerich near Haines, Alaska, when he was attacked, according to University of Alaska Southeast spokeswoman Kate Bausler. A student hiked down the mountain to get cell reception and call for help.
Alaska State Troopers got a call from the Haines Police Department at about noon Monday. According to their report, they removed Wagner from the mountain via helicopter and put him on another LifeMed helicopter before taking him to a hospital.
Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters wrote in an email to The Associated Press that Wagner had been taken to an Anchorage hospital. None of the hospitals that take trauma patients in Anchorage had record of his arrival.
His condition is currently unknown but his next of kind have been notified of the attack, according to troopers.
According to Wagner’s teaching schedule, he was part of a Mountaineering 101 class that was scheduled to come down off of the mountain by Tuesday. He has been coordinating and teaching in the outdoor studies program at the university since 2006, according to his biography. He teaches rock and ice climbing, backcountry navigation, glacier travel and mountaineering.
The bear was sighted again after the mauling and Bausler said the 12 students in the mountaineering class were taken down from the mountain and are spending the night in Haines with another professor. They are scheduled to take the ferry back to Juneau on Tuesday, she said.
It’s the second mauling reported in Alaska within days.
A 77-year-old bear hunter is recovering from injuries suffered when he was mauled by a grizzly in interior Alaska.
Troopers on Monday said hunter Glenn Bohn of Wasilla was attacked by the bear near Mile 68 of the Denali Highway just after 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
The 135-mile road runs east to west and connects the Richardson and Parks highways east of Denali National Park.
Bohn’s hunting partner killed the bear. Bohn was driven by snowmobile to the Denali Highway where a LifeMed Alaska helicopter flew him to an Anchorage hospital.
Wildlife troopers, employees of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and friends of Bohn removed the bear from the field Saturday.
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