MT: Bear Spray Failure or Bear Spray Success?

Another grizzly bear attack in Montana.  A man was mauled. It sounds like he sprayed the bear with pepper spray while being mauled, but that is a bit unclear.
From kbzk.com:

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports a man suffered bites to the head, shoulder and wrist after being attacked by a grizzly bear north of Whitefish on Sunday.

(snip)

He was able to use pepper spray against the bear during the attack, which caused the bear to flee back toward the direction from where it charged.

It is possible that the dogs were part of the trigger for the attack.  The cubs, the deer carcass and the dogs all are associated with bear attacks.

Is this a bear spray failure or a bear spray success?  Ending in the hospital does not seem like much of a success to me, but it is better than being killed.

It is impossible to know if a firearm could have stopped the attack before he was injured, or if a firearm would have been as effective in stopping the attack after it was initiated.

There is no objective study that shows that bear spray is as or more effective than firearms for defense against bears.

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