Grizzly Bear Wanted After Killing Cyclist Outside National Park

Police officers are now looking for the grizzly bear who allegedly killed a cyclist just outside Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.

According to reports, the cyclist was riding in the Flathead national forest just outside the national park when the incident happened.

The man was identified by Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry as Brad Treat, a 38-year-old who works as a law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service.

According to a FaceBook post from his office, Treat, who was with another male, went on a biking trip in Halfmoon Lake when they came across the grizzly bear on the trail.

"It appears they likely surprised the bear and Treat was taken off his bike by the bear. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The second rider was able to exit the area to summon help and was not injured or involved in the attack," his post read.

Daily Interlake said responders came in around 3:00 p.m. It took an hour before Treat's body was found in the scene. The body was later transported by a Two Bear Air Rescue helicopter.

The area where the incident happened was closed by the Forest Service for public safety pending completion of the investigation lead by the Wildlife Human Attack Response Team of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Forest Service and the Sheriff's Office, Inside Edition reported.

According to The Guardian, this is only the 10th bear-related human death in Glacier since the park was created in 1910.

Grizzly bears or North American brown bears have been under the news radar lately after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove them from protection within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) under the Endangered Species Act, in a process called delisting.

According to the National Park Service, crossing them out of the list means bear hunting will be completely legal outside national parks.

Natural Resources Conservation Service said the threatened status of the grizzly bears is associated with habitat loss from human encroachment. Adding more pressure to their declining population is their low reproductive rate.