Posted on 10/06/2007 6:35:13 AM PDT by Gritty
BROADALBIN A Broadalbin teenagers encounter with a bear Wednesday night was one shell never forget.
The black bear attacked the Oldsmobile Bravada SUV she was driving on Route 29.
Hannah Pecora, 17, takes a look at the damage to her 1996 Oldsmobile Bravada, which was attacked by a bear.
I was just driving and I looked to the left, recounted Hannah Pecora. I saw its whole body and its face. Its mouth was wide open and its arms were up.
In an account verified by the Fulton County Sheriffs Department, the 17-year-old Broadalbin-Perth Central High School student said Friday she was alone traveling from a soccer game in Amsterdam to her home on Progress Heights Road about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
She was headed up Route 29, just about 50 feet from Progress Road, listening to her car radio.
Her father, John Pecora, said Friday his daughter then had the fright of her life.
A black bear came over the side of the road and ran into the drivers side, he said. It hit the drivers side and the paws were up on the top of the roof.
Hannah Pecora said she remembers trying to come to a rolling stop during the attack.
The bear pushed the vehicle to the side of the road and she was trapped about 10 minutes before the bear ran into the woods, she said.
I screamed so loud, she said. I never screamed so loud in my life. ... It seemed like it lasted forever.
Pecora remembers being shoved across the seats as the bear violently shook the SUV and pushed it to the side of Route 29.
She said an unidentified woman who witnessed the attack pulled over, rolled her window down and yelled to the teen that she called 911.
Meanwhile, Pecora said the bear continued to attack the family vehicle. She said she was able to get to her cell phone and call her parents.
Pecora said she could hear the bear growling loudly, with its teeth pushed up against the drivers-side window.
Pecora feared the animal would crash through the glass.
I thought he was in the car, she said.
She was not injured in the incident.
Within minutes, Pecora said her parents and a Fulton County sheriffs deputy arrived as the black bear was making his way into the woods.
The high school senior said she cried when her classmates asked her about the incident Thursday.
Fulton County Sheriff Thomas J. Lorey said Friday it is rare for such black bear sightings in public, and he doesnt understand why no one else in the area reported seeing it.
He said the last time deputies received a report of a bear-car accident was earlier this year in Caroga Lake.
Im frankly surprised, Lorey said.
Some authorities suggested the bear may have been rabid.
Ed Reed of the state Department of Environmental Conservations Region 5 Wildlife Unit said the bears behavior was not normal.
I cant think of what would have prompted him to do that, he said. That bear might have gotten food out of the back of a car that looked like that one. ... Bears do get rabies.
DEC Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone said Friday rabies could be the explanation.
Ive never known a bear to attack a car, he said. But there are rabid bears.
He said the SUV could have run into the bear instead of the bear actually attacking the vehicle. Stone said the bear could have been disoriented.
This is NY state, correct?
Wow, scary. Almost sounds as though she and the bear collided at the same time and then the bear lost it’s temper.
Well, there you have it.
This li-bear-al bear was an anti-SUV enviro-nut. Probably experiencing a Gore-basm as he attacked this evil SUV.
What? An evil SUV killing machine brought down by a lil ol’ bear? Can’t be. Must be defective.
The girl’s mistake was to stop the vehicle. Amazing the bear didn’t get to her.
A black bear pushed a two ton vehicle off the road? Huh? Was it on steroids?
Good grief, she hit the bear with her car while it was crossing the road, and then she stopped and screamed. Why did she stop?
Really, personally, I would like to hear the bear’s side of the story.
They call this a "sighting"? It was a sight all right.
DEC Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone said... the SUV could have run into the bear instead of the bear actually attacking the vehicle.
Note that this "wildlife professional" automatically presumes that the kid is lying and the bear is innocent, typical of enviro-NAZI ossifers of the "law".
I guess the bear facts escaped him.
Most "environmental crimes" are in fact civil actions with penalties that exceed most criminal infractions. There is no presumption of innocence, no protection from unreasonable search and seizure, no protection from self incrimination, and no right to an attorney. Ain't it grand?
Yes, upstate New York. This is a rural, wooded area and there are bears around, obviously. My guess is, the girl's father showed up shortly after her panicked phone call with a rifle.
Fulton County
Take a good look at the front of that bumper.
‘Cos she’s a silly little teenage girl?
My guess is, the bear was angry afer he ran into the car. it had nothing to do with the girl.
It sounds like this girl wrecked the family car and then proceeded to make up some excuse to cover her butt.
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