KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An 8-year-old Florida boy and his father were mauled by a black bear that pounced on the boy in a creek without provocation in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, authorities said Tuesday.
http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/3365991/
harrier
there is so much that doesn’t make sense about this alleged attack. I would wager that this was not a truthful account. I have looked at the pictures of the boy and they appear to be abrasions, not puncture wounds. I have listened to the father’s interview. The park service acted like the wimps they are rather than ask some important questions about what happened. …tourons…
charlie brady
I agree with you Charlie Brady. The boy’s father says that thier clothes may have smelled of food from fried chicken they had eaten an hour earlier, if that was the case one would think the smell would have disappeared with in that time frame. I believe that the bear was provoked in some way ,shape or form, because a small bear like that just does not attack unless he was provoked.The kid ran ahead of his father and brother, for all they know he could have seen the bear thrown some thing at it and it reacted the only way it knew how and that was to defend itself.
the comeback kid
There is bound to be something hidden in this story. I live in the mounains adjacent to the Smokies and in all of my encounters, I have never seen one act aggresively. Heck, in my younger foolish years, us boys would camp intentionally where we knew bears were {not going to mention campground}. We would literally entice and chase bears through other campsites, even mother bears with cubs. Never had one to actually threaten us. Now in my somewhat more mature years, in hiking 100’s of miles in these mountains, I have never had an encounter where the bear didn’t immediately run. Stay safe and don’t feed the wildlife.
Boquack
Maybe part of the problem here is the boy tried to run away from the bear. I saw an interview with the kid on TV and he mentioned how he tried to outrun the bear when he saw it. That is a no no with bears. You have to either stand your ground or walk away slowly. If you run it turns on the bears predatory nature and it will give chase.
Bear Bag Hanger
The child was interviewed on one of the morning shows this a.m. The Ranger also said the the bear came toward them in an aggressive manner which is unusual behavior. I think Bear Bag Hanger got it right with his analysis. Also the child said that the bear pushed him down into rock (or he tripped and did a face plant) which explained the facial abrasions. Bite marks were shown, too. I hope they’ll publish the necropsy report which might give explanation. :oh
Lady Di
The described behavior of this bear is much rarer than exaggerated stories by tourists of bear encounters. The Park Service is so concerned with public relations that I still believe they did not examine closely if they were telling the truth.
charlie brady
Jus’ more evidence that real bears should have been replaced with robotic ones long ago. Bear should have been in a zoo, not wandering around in the woods where people are playing. We have the technology. Why haven’t we replaced dangerous animals with robotic replicas.
YUK-YUK
I remember a documentary years ago in which National Park rangers told stories of the dumbest things they’ve seen people do, and this ranger pulled over to observe a woman telling her children to get real close to the bison for a better photo, and the Park ranger abruptly halts the woman, and her response was," Well, you wouldn’t have REAL wild animals here with all the children, would you?" No, of coarse not…
fishngame
Boquack, you mentioned that your recent bear encounters have always included the bear running away. I live in Waynesboro and can say all of my SNP encounters have included bears creating distance between me and them; this has been my experience outside of the park as well, with one recent and notable exception. Here’s that story, for what it’s worth… I was hiking with my son, who will be 2 next month, last month on the Albright Loop Trail (which you access from the Humpback Rocks parking area). With my son riding on my shoulders, we encountered a large bear in open woods about 30 yards away from us. When I spotted the bear, it was staring at us. I stopped and spoke to it in soft voice for a few seconds as I scanned for cubs and contemplated what to do. I decided to keep hiking in the direction we were headed, fully expecting the bear to bolt through the woods. It never moved more than its head as we walked past, its intent stare never leaving us. That was the first time I ever felt uncomfortable around a bear in the woods. Even when I was further up the mountains (150 yards away?), the bears body was still facing the same direction as when we passed, but its stare was still on us. I can’t say I felt threatened, but definitely uncomfortable – especially considering the size of the bear and the fact I had my little boy.
Ozone
While hiking/camping in the Rockies one year, the locals had had several instances of black bears coming into town. Park Rangers were making a big effort to alert campers and hikers that they REALLY need to do things right. Discussing the ‘bear problem’, the Rangers said that the bears don’t have a problem; people have a problem.
SoTex
Bears have been known to fake a charge, ie. run at a person, stopping a few feet short. It would be hard to blame a person for trying to run off. Surprised bears have also been known to rise up on their hind feet, another act that might well cause a person to run. Black bears have attacked naturalists studying them, too. People are not always at fault. People, too, have been bitten by “my-dog-would never-bite” dogs.
rambler
I didn’t mean the people cause the attacks. I just meant that when a bear decides to attack for whatever reason, at that moment the bear doesn’t have a problem, but the human has a big problem. My thoughts are that when your out in bear country (or anywhere for that matter), you just take a gamble. If you use your head and pay attention, most of the time every thing is fine. But you never know. So what. All of life is a gamble anyway.
SoTex
The bear in this story was in his home. Everyone knows that bears live in the area. Fortunatly, the child was not seriously injured. The bear is dead. The father is to blame. He is 100% responsible for his childs injuries. The little kid should not have been running loose. The father should have been making noise to warn the bear of thier approach. He should have had the kid close to him. There are some places children shouldn’t be without strict and “RESPONSIBLE” supervision. Perhaps an environment with rattle snakes, bears, etc. is one of those places. Do ya think???
Bob
I am very saddened that once again it is the bears that pay the price in these encounters. Maybe part of the problem is that the bears are just encoutering too many humans and getting habituated to their presence. Maybe we should reduce the number of folks in the parks. I seem to remember this particuklar park as being way overcrowded.
stryker
there is a sign not far from there that states, CHARLIE’S BUNION, CLOSELY CONTROL CHILDREN. Then a sick part of me thinks that bear and mountain lion maulings should be part of the experience. Just two days ago a man shot a bear in his yard in New Milford, Ct. He was “rescueing his dog” from being chased and it reared up at him. Life is harsh in the suburbs…
fishngame