Grizzly bear mauls woman to death after becoming attracted to food near her tent

A grizzly bear that mauled a woman to death in a predatory attack had become "food-conditioned".

Experts say the 189kg bear was attracted to food in and near her tent in Montana, US, as well as food smells from Independence Day picnics.

Leah Davis Lokan, 65, from California, came across the bear but was able to scare it away an hour before the attack, although it returned at 4am and mauled her to death in a rare attack.

An autopsy found that the woman suffered an instant death after the bear broke her neck and severed her spine.

The woman had been camping in the small town of Ovando, which sits along the banks of the Blackfoot River, an area made famous by the film A River Runs Through It, on July 6 last year.

An investigation into her gruesome death showed that after her first meeting with the grizzly bear she had taken some packaged snack foods and dry lentils out of her tent.

She had also retrieved a can of bear spray, an item that would later be found used and left under her tent.

Leah Lokan was mauled to death (Facebook)

The woman had been camping in the small town of Ovando, along the banks of the Blackfoot River (Copyright unknown)

But her toiletries stayed in the tent contained in two bags that had previously held dried blueberries and still smelled like the fruit.

A Texas couple who were camping nearby were woke up at 4am to noises of Ms Lokan being attacked.

The terrified man shouted at the bear and used his pepper spray after seeing the animal "pouncing up and down" on her and her tent, Sky News reports.

The bear that mauled her to death was shot three days later while raiding a chicken coop near Ovando.

The bear that mauled her to death was shot three days later (Getty Images/500px Plus)

A report, published on June 28, said: "Not all bears exhibiting food-conditioned behaviour exhibit predatory behaviour.

"But for some unknown reason a predatory response was triggered in this bear.

"While foraging under the cover of darkness in Ovando, perhaps due to a simple movement made by the sleeping victim, or a certain sound made by the victim, the bear reacted and ended up taking the life of Ms Lokan."

In March this year, a 40-year-old man in Montana who had gone missing while hiking was killed in another suspected encounter with a grizzly bear.

Hiker Craig Clouatre is understood to have encountered the beast in an area north of Yellowstone National Park.