OTTAWA, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A Canadian woman was killed and her husband seriously injured in a bear attack on Tuesday, the latest in a series of bear attacks which have aroused countrywide attention.

    The Ontario Provincial Police said the couple, in their earlier thirties, was mauled Tuesday during a camping trip in a remote campsite in Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park in Ontario.

    The black bear had confronted two other men on a hike shortly before the fatal attack, but they were able to fend it off.

    The area where the couple was attacked is home to many black bears and has had more than its usual share of bear sightings this year, officials say.

    The attack is just the latest in a rash of bear attacks across Canada. A Manitoba man fended off a black bear in early September, just one week after a black bear killed another man in the province.

    There have also been four grizzly attacks in Alberta since June, including a fatal one on a female jogger near Canmore. A woman in British Columbia was also mauled in May.

    Wildlife officials are predicting more encounters with bears as people continue to encroach on their habitats. Enditem