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Swedish man mauled in brutal bear attack

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Swedish man mauled in brutal bear attack

A man was airlifted to hospital after he was attacked by a bear in a remote part of the woods of northern Sweden on Tuesday.

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The attack took place in Sielkentjakke, in the Jämtland mountain range of central-northern Sweden. The man's injuries are reportedly serious, but not life threatening.

"It was the man's friend who alerted authorities to say his friend had been attacked by a bear, and that the bear was dead," Stefan Fredriksson of the Jämtland police told the TT news agency.

The man, in his fifties, was out in the woods overseeing the calving of reindeer.

Wild animals do not usually attack people in the area, according to Linda Thelin, project leader of the nearby Predator Centre in Järvsö.

"Attacks occur about once a year. That's how it is if you look back 30, 40, 50 years," she said.

In Sweden, two people have died and 16 have been injured in bear attacks between 1997 and 2007, according to statistics from the centre.

Hunting dogs were involved in 12 of the total 18 attacks.

While the dogs can aggravate the bears, officials warn that situations involving injured bears can also be especially dangerous. Getting between a mother bear and her cub is another potentially life-threatening situation.

TT/The Local/og

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