Posted on 08/10/2015 9:39:19 AM PDT by Perseverando
A Midlothian woman survived a bear attack Saturday at Douthat State Park in Bath County that left her with 14 stitches in her back and 14 in her leg.
An adult female black bear believed to be the attacker was tracked and killed early Sunday. The bear attack prompted the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to close several miles of trails on the west side of state Route 629, which was scheduled to be reopened today.
Laurie Cooksey was hiking Saturday with three of her four children after a day of canoeing and camping the night before. When they reached the Tuscarora Overlook and took a selfie, rain clouds were quickly forming, she said. So about 6 p.m., the foursome headed down the steep, windy trail with Cooksey and her 19-year-old son Ellis walking ahead of her daughter Hannah Cate, 16, and son Blake, 22.
Within five minutes, Ellis spotted the black bear peering at them from behind a tree about 10 yards away, Laurie Cooksey said. Almost immediately, the bear charged.
They retreated in the opposite direction, but the bear caught up and headed them off.
He was fast. He was just so fast, she said.
The bear clawed Cookseys back and knocked her to the ground off the trail.
The saving grace was it was raining hard and the leaves were slippery, she said.
They both slid in the leaves and she found herself slightly uphill from the bear when it bit her twice on the leg.
Cooksey kicked just enough for the bear to lose its balance on the incline and slide far enough away for Cooksey to make a run for it, she said.
When they caught up with the other two who were unaware of the incident, the bear reappeared.
(Excerpt) Read more at roanoke.com ...
"Et" would translate "ate" for city folk. LOL
Who did she outrun?
How to survive a bear attack:
Trip your buddy
Apparently no one.
Does Midlothian predate Neanderthals?
LOL!
It’s a region of Britain, and also a suburb of Richmond, VA.
My wife grew up in England. She says "et" for "ate" quite a bit. It's not just a rural American thing. Or did you grow up in England too?
Here a photo of the bear just before it was shot. It was night so they used a flash. Note the "deer in the headlights" appearance:
And, a city close to Dallas/Fort Worth.
no bells pr pepper spray?
(refering to the old joke: for those readers with no sense of humor) :)
Huh, I didn’t know that.
Cheerio, mate! But acutally, no. I think it's some sore of colloquialism carried over from years ago. I've heard some old time geezers refer to the county sheriff as the "high sheriff" which I think is a Brit thing also.
Is that similar to Midlothians speed-dating Neanderthals?
I had an experience just this past week involving a bear that I dont want to repeat. I was on my bicycle on an old logging trail going through a wooded area when I came across a bit of thinned out area where the vegetation was quite high (mostly grass and some brush that was say 2 to 3 feet high. All of a sudden about 40 feet in front of me, a small black animal popped out of the grass and on to the trail and he turned in the same direction I was going. For a millisecond, I thought it might be a black cat . common sense quickly told me there were no cats for a gazillion miles around and that it obviously was a baby bear. So, I made the snap decision to just hit the pedals as hard as I could and get past him and hope his mother was following and thus behind him. In a couple seconds, I was right beside him as he loped along in the adjacent track and when he looked up me and saw me as I got level to him, he peeled off into the grass like he had just received the biggest fright of his life. I never did see the mother and am glad that I didnt have to second guess the decision to speed up instead of stop when I saw the baby.
Oh No Ranger Bob! I was just returning the pic-a-nic basket!
Black bear lives matter!
David Suchet ("Hercule Poirot") has an excellent audio version of the NIV Bible. In it he, too, pronounces "ate" as "et". IIRC, he is also a stage Shakespearean actor, so he probably knows "the Queen's English".
ROFLMAO!!
Bears call mountain bikers Meals on Wheels.
IMHO, there’s now an orphaned bear cub somewhere on that mountain searching in vain for its mother.
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