A black bear attack occurred today not far from where I live. It’s a place I’ve been many times. There’s a campground & network of hiking and mtn. biking trails. I’ve encountered bears in this area before. They’ve always been very predictible by running away. The local news said it was a mother and her two children who were hiking/camping and didn’t have any food with them. Strange behavior for a black bear… I thought.
http://www.wrcb.com/news/index.cfm?sid=891
guru
Yes, I quickly heard it on fox news this morning as I was walking by the TV - Did I understand right that a little girl was killed in this attack??
rosie
killed a 6 yr old girl and severly injured her mother and 2 yr old brother. the survivors are in critical condition at erlanger hospital in chattanooga, tn according to cnn right now as i type this…i grew up just 25 miles from where this happened and have been to that campground when i was a kid…have driven by in hundreds of times on my way to cleveland and chattanooga…it’s about 60 miles west of the Nanthala Outdoor Center, still on hwy 74. about 40 miles north of springer mtn…very terrible news! the bear had to have been sick or injured. starving…or else was antangonized…maybe there is a cub in the area no one saw…:eek:
Big Dee
one of the news reports I read stated that there was a bear attack back in 2000 that resulted in the death of a middle aged lady. I remeber that incident quite well, as I was in GSMNP at the time and had to do a different hike. From what I understood, it was a suspiscion that the lady was actually killed by her husband, and the bears took the blame for it. Can anyone confirm this?
Hammock PhD
Very Sad stuff indead. My heartfelt sympathy to the family. We have many, many bear in this area and it is rather unusual for them to attack a person, BUT…the possibility always their. I sure hope the other two pull through.
The Desperado
I though I heard that the women that was attacked in 2000 had been feeding the bear but I couldn’t find any articles online that supported that memory. Does anyone else remember details about that attack?
The attack in Tennessee certainly sounds unusual.
Radar
A black bear with a yearling killed an experienced woman hiker in 2000. I believe it was in the Tremont area of GSMNP.
Sapling
there was some local speculation that the husband killed his wife and left her for the bears, but there was never any charges or indictments…final decision was that the mom and yearling cub were emaciated and starving as they consumed much of the victim and were quite thin when destroyed by the park service…:x
Big Dee
There is very good reason to believe the Smokies killing was a murder and the bears ate her. There were unwrapped granola bars around her body and she was telling her abusive husband that she wanted a divorce that day. It took him 5 hours to get help, near the most popular fishing spot in the Park and she had a bump on the back of the head, plus the cut artery in her neck was not consistant with a bear attack.
Eco Warrior
That theory about the ex-husband has been bandied around since day 1, and it didn’t stack up. The husband, and that salacious theory, was investigated thoroughly and it didn’t pan out. In fact, I believe they were together that day in an attempt to reconcile. Hardly sounds like an ‘abusive husband’ to me.
The bears attacked that woman, and the momma bear had the woman’s flesh in its belly and wouldn’t let humans come near as it was chomping away.
Barney