Posted on 06/11/2015 3:51:20 AM PDT by SJackson
Several trails, campsites closed
GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- An Ohio father fought off a black bear that was attacking his teenage son at Great Smoky Mountains National Park over the weekend.
Greg Alexander's teenage son, Gabriel, was dragged by a bear from their campsite at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, WCPO sister station WLOS reported. They were 40 miles into what was planned to be a 50-mile backpacking trip.
"I woke up to (Gabriel) screaming, and I saw a bear," Alexander told WLOS. "And it seemed to have bitten (Gabriel) in the head and was dragging him that way across the ground towards the bushes.I just had to get the bear off of him. I think I kicked the bear a couple times, and it didn't seem to have any effect. So I just jumped on (the bear) and started punching it in the face."
The bear left, but they still had to hike five miles to get help.
Gabriel "walked the whole way holding a shirt on his face to keep the bleeding down," Alexander told WLOS.
Campers with a motorboat brought them across a lake so a helicopter could airlift Gabriel to a hospital.
Gabriel, 16, of Athens, Ohio, is now in the ICU at Mission Hospital in Asheville but is stable, according to WLOS.
The bear has been euthanized, and DNA samples from the animal have been sent for testing.
Park spokeswoman Molly Schroer told the Knoxville News Sentinel that rangers found the bear at the campsite and captured it Tuesday morning. Schroer said rangers believe it's the same bear.
The DNA samples from the euthanized bear were sent for testing along with bear hair samples found at the campsite after the attack.
Several trails and campsites have been closed, possibly until after the DNA results are returned.
Alexander told WLOS that they had stored their food and belongings on an aerial storage cable.
.44 magnum
Just sayin’
Related article
DNA tests confirm the same bear attacked people camping illegally near Durango twice in May
I’m glad the father wrestled with him and was successful.
I always remember this tragic one from 2007 in Utah:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1853187/posts
Update on Utah death from 2007 from earlier this year:
Stayed a few nights in the Smokies with the wife last fall. Didn’t see one bear...or any other wild critter. We even went on some drive where they practically promised us we’d see a bear. Maybe it was a good thing. It seems those SM bears like to eat tourists.
The Park service has done away with the chain-link fences in the shelters. The theory is that the campers will lock the gate in the fence, and feed the Bears through the fence. However, it means that hikers will be sleeping with the Bears.
Nah, that’s Mexican pot growers.
It’s from the article linked in post #5
Our first time to SMNP, though, for a family reunion in 2012, one showed up at our pavilion since the yummy smell of burgers grilling was so tempting. Persistent guy, bluff charged at our group of 60 yelling and waving arms.
He hung around for way too long...trying to enter the pavilion from different sides. We have some great pix of him, though. He finally wandered off, but not after hiding in the bushes for a while. My daughter has a great zoom-in shot of his eyes watching us through shrubbery. We called the rangers immediately, but it took about 45 min for them to come...and he had already left. Looking at the pix, rangers estimated a teenage male.
(A lot of family from Colorado...pretty sure some of my cousins could have 'taken care of him' if they needed to.)
I have hiked extensively on the Smokies and have had several encounters with bears in camp.
This is the first human/bear encounter in memory where a person was physically attacked and dragged. I came upon a bear that had effectively trapped hikers in the chain link fronted shelter but arm waving and yelling caused it to go away.
I would suspect the kid secreted some food or negligently left some food on his possession/pack out of the bear bag.
Cades Cove? I think so. Great scenery, but no bear.
Jumping on a bear to protect your son!
Gets my vote for dad of the year
I always “pack” in the woods. Can’t believe no one else does.
Don’t snack in your sleeping space!
I’ll bet $100 the kid had snacks with him at the spot of the attack.
Possibly, there’s no telling right now but at least it sounds like the boy is gonna be ok...I take younger kids than this out into bear country and have yet to have a problem with the food...we make sure the boys are fed well to mitigate the temptation.
Don’t wear clothing to bed that you wore around camp or ate in...
Have clothing that is ONLY for sleeping to prevent the possibility of carrying food odors or particulates into your tent.
Don’t go unarmed in the big woods.
Black bears kill more people than all other bear species.
I wish I’d kept the link but there was a study out of Canada on bear/human interactions. It found that young black bear males are responsible for most human deaths by bears.
It’s not badly kept food at camp sites or trash laying around, they are preying on us.
Moral of the story, being at the top of the food chain means being better armed than what wants to eat you.
>>>This is the first human/bear encounter in memory where a person was physically attacked and dragged. <<<
You’re talking about just in the Smokies?
Last September there was a college guy killed by a black bear about 10 miles from me.
My entire area of NJ is thick with these pests. Here was yesterday’s visit...
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