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Bears that barge in on people in the forest have become enough of a nuisance that more of them should be hunted, state wildlife managers have decided. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, responding to a spike in human-bear contacts and an 11-year-old boy's death in June, want to issue 296 black bear hunting permits for Utah's 2008 spring and fall hunts, a 20 percent increase from the 248 permits offered this year. DWR officials say the state's black bear population is high enough to warrant the permit increase. Wildlife managers also say bears and humans clashed too many times...

A black bear chased, caught and mauled a bicycle rider on a mountain trail in Canada's oldest and most popular national park, and was shot and killed when it refused to leave the area, a warden said. The biker, Greg Flaaten, 41, a Web administrator for the town of Banff, was being treated for severe arm injuries at Foothills Hospital in Calgary following the attack, and reconstructive surgery in the biceps and triceps area was scheduled Monday. Authorities initially feared Flaaten might lose his arm, but that concern was eased when a key artery was found to be intact, maintaining...

A 29-year-old Farisita man suffered bruises and possible nerve damage to his neck and shoulder this week when he tangled with a black bear on a private ranch near Stonewall about 25 miles west of Trinidad. Harold Cerda stopped to use an outhouse on the ranch. While he was away from his car, a bear climbed through an open window and started to eat Cerda's lunch that was on the front seat. As Cerda came out of the outhouse, the bear was walking in his direction and took a swing at Cerda, knocking him down. Michael Seraphin, spokesman for the...

A black bear was caught in a forest recreation area Sunday and was being sent to a veterinary school to determine if it was the same animal that attacked a family, killing a 6-year-old girl. Authorities found a bear in the same trap where they detected paw prints on Saturday in the remote Cherokee National Forest Chilhowee Recreation Area... The bear, which was captured near the site of the attack, looked to be the same weight as the 350- to 400-pound bear that attacked a mother and her two children on a trail in the recreation area on Thursday... The...

Authorities hunted Friday for a black bear that picked up a 2-year-old boy in its mouth and mauled his mother, critically injuring them before killing the child's 6-year-old sister. Witnesses told authorities the bear picked up the boy in its mouth while the mother and other visitors tried to fend it off with sticks and rocks, said Dan Hicks, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. When the bear attacked, the girl ran away, authorities said. Rescuers found the girl's body about 100 yards down the trail from the falls. A bear was standing over her. "Allegedly, after the...

BENTON, Tenn. - A bear attacked a family at a camp site in the Cherokee National Forest on Thursday, killing a 6-year-old girl and injuring her 2-year-old brother and mother, authorities said. The attack took place near a pool of water on Chilhowee Mountain, said Dan Hicks, spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Witnesses described the bear picking up the boy in its mouth while the mother and other visitors tried to fend it off with sticks and rocks, Hicks said. The mother was injured before the bear was chased away.

From The Morning Call -- May 2, 2005 Philly woman hurt in bear attack at Hickory Run By Ron Devlin Of The Morning Call A 21-year-old Philadelphia woman was injured in an encounter with a 150-pound black bear Saturday night while camping in Hickory Run State Park, officials confirmed.... "We're not considering it an attack, but an encounter with a bear," said Warrick. "The bear was apparently after food." Upon seeing the bear, Feeney fled and was chased by the animal, Warrick said. Park officials stress that persons encountering bears should not run, but stand still. The trio was camped...

Game experts offer some tips about black bears http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5123200&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416045&rfi=6 By Joe Sylvester DOWNVALLEY BUREAU CHIEF 08/22/2002 Rule No. 1: Do not feed the bears. Rule No. 2: Do not pet them. Rule No. 3: You should certainly not try to ride them or invite them into your living room. As obvious as these pointers sound, people have tried them with black bears, said Gary Alt, Ph.D., of Moscow, a wildlife biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Dr. Alt said people don't need to be afraid of black bears, despite a bear mauling of a baby girl outside a cottage Monday...