Below is a selection of articles from various news agencies throughout North America recording black bear attacks. In providing these recent accounts we hope to educate the public about the dangers an uncontrolled population of black bears would present to the people of Maine and our visitors.
Caution the following articles may contain troubling content.
FALLSBURG, N.Y. — A bear killed an infant Monday afternoon as it tried to drag the girl into the woods, officials said. The baby, Ester Schwimmer of Brooklyn, was snatched out of her stroller by the bear at the bungalow colony, police said. Fallsburg is about 70 miles northwest of New York City. (CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE)
Bear kills 93-year-old New Mexico woman
Publication: Scripps Howard News Service
Date: August 21, 2001
Author: Joe Garner
The 100-pound elderly woman
'didn't have a chance against a 275-pound bear' in the kitchen of her home,
wildlife officials point to bears desperate for food as the continuing cause of
people-bear incidents.
A 93-year-old New Mexico woman was mauled to death by a black bear that broke into her home over the weekend, stunned wildlife officials have confirmed.
Adelia Maestas Trujillo of Cleveland, in north central New Mexico, was killed "by multiple bite injuries," said Scott Wilson, associate director of the Office of Medical Investigator. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Publication: Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association
Date: July 2003
Author: Staff
A fatal encounter between a forestry worker and a black bear in northern Quebec this past spring underlines in the worst possible way the need for workers to be aware of the risk of bear encounters and of how to deal with such encounters.
The incident occurred on April 17 near Waswanipi, a village 154 kilometers west of Chibougamau. A logging foreman with Norbord Industries in Senneterre, QC had gone out alone to survey cut sites for the coming summer. Investigators concluded from tracks in the snow and other evidence that while the foreman was surveying a site, the bear left its den and walked parallel to him for about 50 metres. The bear then moved ahead of him, eventually confronted him and charged. Judging from the pattern of tracks, the worker turned and ran from the bear for about 15 metres before he was struck down and mauled. It’s believed that death was instantaneous. The bear then dragged the worker into its den. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Episode a first at national park since early 1970s
Publication: Rocky Mountain
News
Date: July 15, 2003
Author: Tillie Fong
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK - Two men were mauled by a black bear while they were camping near Fern Lake, and one said Monday "it was extreme pain and a whole lot of blood," yet he vowed not to be deterred from future outings.
"I just woke up, and it was a blur in my head, then the blood was going everywhere," said Boulder resident Patrick Finan, 22, of the attack early Sunday. "The bear was standing outside my tent, staring in."
Finan and Tim Schuett, 23, of Glen Ellyn, Ill., were treated and released from a hospital in Estes Park Sunday. Finan had bite marks on his forehead and scalp, and Schuett had a laceration on the top of his head. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Camper attacked by bear
Date: July 10, 2003
Author: Matthew Baker
A black bear attacked a sleeping camper on the Green River early Monday morning,
leaving him with bites and puncture wounds on the back of his neck and a
laceration across the side of his head.
Nick Greeve, 18, was camping with 14 students and five instructors
from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) at Fret Falls in Desolation
Canyon when the bear attacked.
Five of the students were sleeping in a circle with their feet in the
middle of the circle when the bear grabbed Greeve by the head and neck and tried
to pull him from his sleeping bag.
(CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Black Bear Attacks Hiker
Publication: Environmental News Script
Date: September 10, 2000
Author: Kevin O'Donnell
This past May, a hiker in
the Great Smoky Mountains National park along Little river trail, near Elkmont
campground was apparently attacked and killed by a 111-pound female black bear
and her 40 pound yearling. The tragic incident was widely reported in the news
media, along with the disturbing detail that the bears had, indeed, eaten parts
of the hiker's body.
(CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE STORY)
Publication: The Toronto Star
Date: 06-29-2002
Author: Bruce Hickey
A Toronto woman slipped free from a black bear’s grasp, ran for her life and made good her escape by leaping off a rock into a lake at Algonquin Park.
“I just kept running to the edge of a cliff and jumped into the water,” 25-year-old Sylvie Haert, a High Park area resident, said yesterday. “The bear followed me on to the cliff. I swam just a little further away and saw the bear looking at me.” (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
BEAR ATTACKS, BITES 2 HUNTERS; STATE TO TRACK, DESTROY ANIMAL
Publication: Rocky Mountain News
Author: Gary Gerhardt News Staff Writer
A large black bear bit two Missouri archers Wednesday while the men hunted on the eastern slope of Grand Mesa, the state Division of Wildlife reported.
``We aren't releasing their names yet, but believe they went to a hospital in Glenwood Springs, where they should be treated and released,'' wildlife division spokesman Todd Malmsbury said. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Manitoulin
senior fends off bear attack
Publication: The Sudbury Star
Date: September 26, 2003
Author: Margo Little
A marauding black bear met its match Wednesday night during an encounter with a Manitoulin grandmother who was ready for a fight. The animal was driven off an Ice Lake farm by the protective pet owner wielding a garden hoe.
'It had to count': Bow hunter
saves son
Nolan Koller had one opportunity to take down
the charging black
bear that had just mauled his son, Jason — and he pulled it off
Publication: ESPN.COM
Author: By Lynn Burkhead ESPN Outdoors.com Associate Editor
POCATELLO, Idaho — Many bow hunters know what it's like to be at full draw, aiming at a big-game animal with butterflies dancing in their stomachs. That's called buck fever.
But few, if any archers have ever faced the intense pressure Nolan Koller did recently when he made a life-or-death shot with his bow and arrow.
Early on Saturday, Sept. 28, Koller shot and killed a charging black bear sow that had just mauled his 29-year-old son Jason. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Black bear kills teen near Yellowknife
Publication: CBC NEWS ONLINE
Date: June 3, 2001
Author: Staff
YELLOWKNIFE - A weekend camping trip in the Northwest Territories turned to tragedy Saturday when an 18-year-old man was mauled to death by a black bear.
Kyle Harry of Yellowknife was camping with a 14-year-old female friend about 25 kilometres east of the city when the bear approached them, the RCMP said. (CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Man injured in black bear attack // Wildlife worker was studying woodcocks near Milaca
Date: 09-16-2002
Author: Kavita Kumar
Miles Becker was tracking woodcocks he and colleagues had tagged when a black bear attacked him Sunday in a central Minnesota wildlife management area.
Becker, 24, was listed in fair condition Sunday night at St. Cloud Hospital after surgery. He suffered broken facial bones, puncture wounds to his head and left leg, and a broken fibula. The only other bear attack recorded in Minnesota occurred in 1987, when a female bear attacked campers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, said
Dave Garshelis, a bear biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife officials have set a trap for the bear. (CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Predatory Black Bear Attack
Publication: Newark Star Ledger
Date: August 12, 2003
Author: Jim Lockwood and Star-Ledger Staff
She was a 5-foot-3, 105-pound hiker, out for a Sunday walk. He was a
400-pound hulking young bruin officials described as "predatory," looking
for a meal.
She said he came up behind her on a trail in Wawayanda State Park in
Sussex County, chased her down and tackled her.
She said she did the only thing she could. She threw a hard elbow at
his snout, and caught him flush, stunning the bear and giving her time to
escape.
"This bear was in predatory mode," said Jack Kaskey, a state Department
of Environmental Protection spokesman. "This was classic predatory
behavior. The bear was out to eat her. She had to fight for her life."
(CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Bear Attack, Canadian Athlete Killed in Apparent Mauling
Date: 07-05-00
Author: ABC News and AP
A Canadian athlete was killed in an apparent bear attack while running on a training course outside Quebec City.
The body of Mary-Beth Miller, 24, was discovered late Sunday in the heavily
wooded area just northwest of Quebec City, police Capt. Johanne Bournival said.
She had a bite mark on her neck, and black bear tracks were spotted near the
body, which was found about a half-mile from the main road.
Bear swats Sparta toddler
Date: May 21, 2003
Author: Rob Jennings
SPARTA - A black bear swatted a 2-year-old boy outside his family's home Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Mark Tregidgo suffered a bump to the head but was otherwise uninjured in the 1:19 p.m. incident, Police Sgt. Russell Smith said. (CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Woman fends off bear attack in her own garage
Publication: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Knight Ridder Newspapers
Date: 9/24/03
Author: Clint Austin/KNT
DULUTH, Minn. -- Kim Heil-Smith walked into her garage outside Grand
Marais, Minn., one night last week expecting to pull something out of her
car. Instead, she ended up wrestling a large black bear.
Heil-Smith, who was talking on a cordless phone at the time, opened the door from her home's entryway into the attached garage about 9:30 p.m. and found herself face-to-face with a sow and her cub. (CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE)