Free Republic

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...