Authorities in Alaska were shocked by back-to-back black bear attacks

Two people were killed and one was injured in two separate predatory attacks by black bears in Alaska.

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On Sunday, a teenage boy participating in a popular mountain race frantically called his brother, telling him he was being chased by a bear. The boy, Patrick Cooper, had veered off the trail during the race and had become lost, south of Anchorage.

Authorities tragically found the boy’s body about a mile off the path. The bear was still there, standing guard. A Chugach State Park ranger shot the bear in the face, but the animal was able to run away.

A day later, Alaska State Troopers were called out to investigate a fatal mauling at a mine 300 miles northeast of Anchorage. Officials say a worker hired to take geological samples was killed and another injured in the attack.

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These attacks are interesting because of how rare attacks by black bears are in the state of Alaska. A biologist compiling a report on Alaska bear attacks since 1880 said that only six deaths had been linked to black bears in 130 years. The most recent attack was in 2013, when a 64-year-old Fairbanks man died after a bear attack.