Posted on 04/14/2006 6:52:17 AM PDT by george76
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 rescue squad found the little girl, one of the squad members fired a shot from a small caliber handgun," Hicks said Friday.
"We don't know whether the bear was hit or not. There was no blood, but it chased it off."
In May 2000, a woman was killed by a black bear near Gatlinburg.
Glena Ann Bradley, a schoolteacher from Cosby, was attacked by two female bears when she took a walk on a trail near a Smoky Mountains campground.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Very sad.
I could never understand stories like this. They're in wildlife/bear territory when out in the woods at campgrounds, and they fault a bear when he's doing what comes natural for him to survive! I just don't get it! Now they're hunting him to kill him. UGH!
Too sad a story to bare!
Your POV is rediculously out of whack.
Two little children at a campground are attacked by a bear, one of them is killed, the mother must be out of her mind from grief at this moment, and you're sorry for the friggin' bear?????
Except for Polar Bears people are usually not on the menu. Like most omnivorus creatures they will take advantage of easy prey like a child or an injured person. It may be the this bear is old and not able to hunt effeciently. As with some animals like lions perhaps this bear has developed a taste for human flesh. In any case it should be captured or killed. Bears are creatures of habit and they will return to a place where the pickings are good.
How is it "rediculously" out of whack?
Are you telling me that a bear knows the difference between a human and other wildlife he's looking to eat?
Sure I feel sorry for the mother and children. I'm an RN, parent and grandparent.....I do have compassion. And I also have common sense. I never took my kids into the wilderness where there was a chance of a bear attacking us.
Coloradoans beware of bears also! Laws have restricted the hunting of bears several years ago and bear sightings and bears breaking into houses are on the increase.
Black bears normaly do not eat a lot of meat, mostly vegetarian. When a black bear attacks it is mostly in that bears perception of defense. That being said, some animals, like some humans, are just plain mean.
This is indeed a tragedy, but also a predictable consequence of the bear repopulation effort. Wildlife experts, history, and others know these tragedies will happen from time to time. Too many people don't understand that feral bears are not pets, they are not harmless, and they sometimes are not in harmony with humans.
Thanks for the explanation. I didn't know that, and I'll admit that I was wrong. I just always saw the campground/wilderness as dangerous because of wildlife.
Okay, I'm learning something. Thanks for the explanation. But believe me, I am anything but mean. Everyone who knows me say that perhaps I am too caring....for animals AND humans.
We live in the Poconos - - 75 miles from NYC - - on a farm that has been in the family for over 150 years. This is not a national park, but we have had bears come on three occasions and kill our livestock in the last 10 years. They are immensely powerful. The bear carried a 150 lb sheep over a 5' fence on one occasion. In 1980 there were about 3,000 bears in all of PA. Now there are five or more times that many. Many have never been hunted and have no fear of humans. Many have also been hand fed by people.
"Allegedly"? Has the bear already lawyered-up?
Cows are strictly vegetarians but the last thing you would want to do is come face to face with a Longhorn bull or a longhorn cow with calf ouy on the range. As a matter of fact if a Longhorn Bull and a bear got into a fight, my money would be on the bull.
Bears are returning to territory where they haven't existed for 100 years. Kind of like the illegal immigration controversy: I'm not willing to give up my right to a safe walk along local trails because black bears are moving back in. Bears (and cougars) are inconvenient neighbors.
I have seen television shows discussing this problem (black bear attacking humans in recreational areas). Surprisingly, a number of them were found to be young male bears who were very thin. The supposition is that they have recently left the company of their mothers and had a difficult time finding enough to eat by themselves. Increasingly desperate for food, they turn to humans as on-hand and relatively easy prey. Previously, humans were either not in the wilderness areas in large numbers and were usually armed when there. As a consequence, the bears either starved to death or were killed outright. However, a present-day unarmed recreational camper is just food on the table for these desperate, dangerous animals.
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