Posted on 05/08/2005 6:45:28 PM PDT by Born Conservative
There's something lurking in the woods around Mud Run. The four-legged creature, the one that "growled in defiance" according to one newspaper account, is stalking the domain of Hickory Run State Park.
Three campers from the concrete jungle of Philadelphia had a rude introduction to the animal last weekend, but despite the scary details, there is nothing to fear.
After all, black bears have been roaming beneath the forest canopy for centuries before the area was dubbed a state park.
When word got out that a bear attacked three campers last weekend, the incident spawned a rash of detail-laden news accounts.
One article said the bear was "infuriated" and one of the victims had "marks of the animal's fury" on her back.
In reality, the incident was a result of mistakes, and there were many.
According to Wildlife Conservation Officer Fred Merluzzi, who was on the scene of the incident the night it occurred, the trio of Philadelphia campers started off on the wrong foot by setting up in an area marked "no camping." Merluzzi said there was alcohol at the campsite and food, including hot dogs and doughnuts, in plastic bags. There were also opened cans of Spaghettios lying around.
Two miles from the area is the Holiday Poconos development, where bears raiding garbage cans and trash bags is a daily occurrence. Feeney had a poncho on, so did the bear mistake it for a trash bag?
Comparing statements made by the campers to Merluzzi's findings, parts of the story don't add up.
The two male campers, Robert Brennan, 21, and Brian Scollon, 19, told Merluzzi they were fishing when the female camper, Kathleen Feeney, 21, came running from the campsite with the bear in pursuit. Merluzzi's inspection of tracks in the area showed the bear was walking, not running. The tracks measured five-and-a-half inches, and Merluzzi estimated the bear weighed about 150 pounds.
The campers then waded into the water and Feeney and Scollon floated downstream. When they came out, they crawled into thick laurels and the bear caught up to them, Merluzzi said.
Basically, they crawled right into prime bear habitat, and Merluzzi noted there was a heavily-used bear trail in the laurel.
The WCO said the bear apparently ripped off Feeney's sweatshirt, leaving several surface scratches on her back. Merluzzi likened the marks to scratches one would get from playing with their pet dog.
I doubt the bear was acting in a rage of fury.
"I think the bear was curious," Merluzzi said. "When the two campers made the decision to crawl into the laurels, it went from the bear being curious to see if they were food. When the bear ripped her sweatshirt off, he found it was something he wasn't interested in and left."
Scollon told Merluzzi the bear drug Feeney away from the tree they were hiding behind, and every time she would return, the bear would come back and drag her away again. Aside from the scratches on her back, Feeney had a wound on her head and a puncture wound on her leg, that could've been caused by a stick, according to Merluzzi. He added a doctor at the hospital told him Feeney's head wound was an abrasion, not a bite.
The campers also claimed the bear tried to bury Feeney. Here's what Merluzzi found:
"The tree they were hiding behind was three feet away from the laurel. It looked like the bear was bringing chunks of laurel over and dropping it on them," he said. "It almost seemed like the bear was putting stuff on them so no one else would find it. They also said the bear was digging at the base of a tree, but it was nothing I would consider a ditch. It was a couple paw-fulls of dirt."
Merluzzi said there was a disposable camera in the sweatshirt that was removed by the bear. The day after the incident, Scollon told him Feeney has pictures of the bear on the camera.
"If you are chased and attacked by a bear, do you have time to take pictures?" Merluzzi said.
The campers said the bear stayed with them for five hours, yet Merluzzi said they had no flashlights with them. The incident occurred from 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, so it was dark most of the time. How could they see the bear if they didn't have flashlights?
I'm not saying the attack never occurred, and I'm not trying to downplay the frightful experience. There's no doubt Feeney was traumatized mentally by the encounter, and rightly so.
But the incident isn't the result of a vicious bear lusting for blood. It's an example of what not to do while camping. "They were very poorly prepared to camp in the Poconos. If they would've stuck together and not panicked and ran, they would've been fine. They're lucky this wasn't British Columbia," Merluzzi said. "It probably was a bear moving through the area and it's done and over with."
This is unreal. These people ARE DUMB, but that does not make it acceptable that a bear terrorized them for some time. If a human pulled any of that crap with me he would be dead or arrested, however, because one of God's creatures did it, it is ok.
Metrosexuals on safari.
When confronted by a grizzly bear, run downhill.
When confronted by a polar bear, give it sunglasses and a coke.
When confronted by any bear shoot the SOB.
Too bad the bear is still living. It has learned that it can molest humans with no consequences. It is now a danger to most other humans in the area.
"When the bear ripped her sweatshirt off, he found it was something he wasn't interested in and left."
I guess he won't be calling her.
Obviously neither the writer nor the campers know what bears do in the woods.
LOL! bump.
"It has learned that it can molest humans with no consequences."
Alleged molestation.
NEVER eat or keep food where you plan to sleep in bear country!!! if possible eat thirty to fifty yards away from your tent and dispose of any wrappings or hang leftover food away from the tent and recover in the morning.
bringing food to your tent in bear country is just asking for trouble...
You said it, FRiend.
We stay up at Bald Eagle State Park every year. There are bears there but your more then likely going to get a visit from a raccoon. Make sure you weight your cooler lids and hang your bait in a safe place.
Depends... you should file off the sights on your .38
I lived there a while, and I've been to Hickory Run and Holiday Pocono (gated development with lots of teeny tiny cabins, many potholes, a lake they don't keep clean). There are bears, even in Holiday Pocono, never mind Hickory Run. They'll scavenge anything, but they're scared of people. You can just clap your hands loud and off they go. If it doesn't, you throw it a hot dog and off YOU go.
A 150 lb. bear is but a baby, young and dumb enough to approach humans. Sounds like they were teasing it or feeding it and they got a surprise.
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