Posted on 05/13/2016 12:19:27 PM PDT by StCloudMoose
A black bear bit through the tent and into the lower leg of a man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail and camped for the night at a national park in Tennessee, park officials said on Thursday. Bradley Veeder, 49, of Las Vegas, was sleeping around 11 p.m. local time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Tuesday when the bear attacked, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said by telephone. Because it was so dark, Veeder and nearby campers did not see the bear, which was initially scared away by his screams, Soehn said. Park officials said it was a black bear based on the wound and damage to tents, as well as fur and saliva collected at the scene. Black bears are the only bears found in the region. Veeder and the other campers retreated to a nearby shelter and the bear subsequently returned, destroying two tents, Soehn said. Rangers carried Veeder on horseback from the campsite for about seven miles on Wednesday to an ambulance that transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released, Soehn said. He suffered puncture wounds and swelling. The shelter has been closed temporarily and park wildlife staffers are at the campsite, monitoring the area for more bear activity, Soehn said. “The injury is a very rare occurrence,” she said. “In the last 10 years, there’ve only been nine human-bear encounters which led to injury” in the national park that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. There has been just one bear-related fatality - in 2000 - since the park opened in 1934, Soehn said. There are about 1,600 black bears in the park, which is visited by 10.7 million people annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Agreed. This is not a bear attack.
BTW: Crazy SOB Wildlife Biologists are deliberately reintroducing Grizzlies to Washington and Oregon National forests.
Terrifying.
Especially since out of state travelers have a very hard time transporting a rifle or handgun thru airport security, fear interstate gun laws, and mat be forbidden to have a firearm in a Nat’l forest or park.
Feds plan to reintroduce grizzly bears in Washington: Oregon ...
www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/03/feds... Proxy Highlight
Mar 3, 2015 ... Nobody has seen a grizzly bear in Washington since 1996, but that ... the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Mont. ... I would like it better if the Feds would re-introduce them on the west side of the state. .... Historically the grizzly bears of Washington and Oregon were known for being
The bear don’t go for the hard to reach. He just wanted him some leg.
Yup. Probably in his sock.
This is basic information that any camper (or Boy Scout) is taught.
And not only Bears but other critters will be paying you a visit in the middle of the night.
Because you mentioned A Walk In The Woods, it’s a pleasant little book EXCEPT for some of his liberal idiocy.
Tells about women being raped and murdered in their tents, then about how sick it makes him to see a female park ranger with a sidearm!
He also complains that the park service is letting mountain tops which were farmed a century ago return to nature, because he likes the “balds” areas which resulted.
Fun book but he’s an idiot/liberal -same thing.
I read that Black Bears are timid and wary. I have never been face to face with one but I have seen plenty of scat.
Sanders supporters smell like chicken...bear probably thought he hit the jackpot.
Great book...Hilarious...The only part that isn’t quite correct is where he denigrates Gatlinburg...
I’m from that area and he was wrong about that town...
“The injury is a very rare occurrence,”
Poor consolation to one involved in the 'rare occurrence'.
The balds weren’t farmed...They were grazed in the summers...The balds are natural...They didn’t have stands of trees, but just brush and grasses...The cattle kept them smooth...They came up from the farms in Cades Cove and were brought back down in winter...
I’m from Townsend, TN and the back edge of my mom and dad’s farm was the Park border...I was raised all over the Park...Hiking, fishing, camping for over 55 years...never had a problem with a bear...Saw plenty, but never a problem....
Yeah...99 times out of 100 they’ll head the other direction when they hear or see you....
Gives him a good story to tell the grandkids...
I don’t even wear the clothes I cook in inside my tent, and I usually try to cook some distance away from the tent.
Almost as bad as bears are skunks. Get a skunk in your campsite and you’ll be sorry.
It is a .38 ultralite revolver. I always wonder if it will just tick the bear off and make him mad. Still, maybe it will scare him away.
I have a 357 but it weights a bit more.
Lol.
It’s illegal to carry a gun in the Smokies...
The skunks around the managed campgrounds in the national Park are almost fully tame...They have been around people so much, they just walk around and look for food...
#blackbearlivesmatter
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