Alaskan teen killed in predatory black bear attack

SUN Media has just reported that a 16 -year-old runner in Anchorage has been fatally mauled by a black bear. Though the report indicates black bear attack(as apposed grizzly attacks) are sort of like being struck by lighting, black bears have historically been responsible for more fatal attacks that grizzlies.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Patrick Cooper’s family…

 

SUN Media Report:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Patrick Cooper had already turned around after reaching the halfway point in a popular mountain race in Alaska when he somehow veered off the trail and became lost. That’s when the 16-year-old Anchorage boy encountered the black bear that would take his life in a rare predatory attack.

Cooper began running, and at one point he reportedly placed a frantic call to his brother, saying he was being chased by a bear Sunday in the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb race south of Anchorage. The brother notified race director Brad Precosky, who alerted race crews to begin searching for Cooper, known as Jack.

It took a couple hours for responders to locate the teen, whose body was found about a mile up the path, at about 1,500 vertical feet (457 vertical meters). The bear was found at the site, guarding the body, Precosky said.

A Chugach State Park ranger shot the 250-pound (113-kilogram) bear in the face, but the animal ran away.

Alaska State Troopers said the boy’s remains were airlifted from the scene on Sunday.

State park staffers were scouring the area Monday looking for the bear, state Fish and Game spokesman Ken Marsh said. Sunday’s attack was believed to have been a rare predatory move, not a defensive action such as when a female bear will protect her cubs, he said.

“It’s very unusual,” Marsh said of the mauling. “It’s sort of like someone being struck by lightning.”

Later Monday, a second fatal mauling at the hands of a black bear was reported nearly 300 miles northeast of Anchorage. Officials with an underground gold mine reported a contract employee hired to take geological samples was killed and another injured in a black bear attack.

No names have been released. Alaska State Troopers and federal mine officials are investigating the mauling at Pogo Mine.

Matt Wedeking, division operations manager with Alaska State Parks, said the predatory behaviour of the bear in the attack on the teen was not normal. Asked if there were cubs around this black bear, he said, “We don’t know. There could have been. But right now I don’t have any information about the bear.”

The last fatal mauling in the state occurred near Delta Junction in Alaska’s interior in 2013, when a man was killed by a male black bear, Marsh said. The last fatal bear attack in the greater Anchorage area was in 1995, when two people were killed in the Turnagain Arm area by a brown bear protecting a moose carcass, he said.

Last week, a juvenile and two young adults sustained minor injuries when a female brown bear with two cubs attacked them. Authorities shot at that bear, but it ran off.

Athletes who run wilderness races in Alaska know bear encounters are always an inherent possibility. Much of the vast state is bear country, after all, and even the competitions themselves can come with warnings, or liability waivers for participants to sign.

But competitors often train alone in such areas and are fully aware of the dangers. Races actually can be said to cut down on the risk of a bear encounter because so many people are there, making noise and making their presence known, Precosky said. “There’s no safer time to be on a mountain than on a race,” he said.

Competitors note that races involve large noisy crowds, which can spook the animals away from the action. Still, there’s no guarantee of 100 per cent safety, as a weekend mountain race proved with the fatal mauling of a 16-year-old boy.

Black Bear attack near Havelock

BlackBear

Looks like old blackie got a little rough in the Havelock area this past weekend. Fortunately for Lynn O’Connor of Peterborough, her faithful companions were by her side!

 

Here’s the article from yesterday’s paper:

(QMI Agency by Sarah Deeth)

Lynn O’Connor, 53, thought she was about to die when a mother bear attacked and bit her in the stomach, but her two dogs saved her life.She is at home recovering from the vicious bear attack near her Belmont-Methuen Township cottage Sunday afternoon.

It was a little after 3:30 p.m. and she was out for a walk with her German shepherds, Jake, 12, and Kyra, 5. Jake is blind, partially deaf and doesn’t move so well, but still loves its daily walk on the 69 acres the couple owns south of Hwy. 7, about 90 minutes northeast of Toronto. Kyra was running in and out of the bushes, chasing squirrels and birds, when O’Connor noticed a bear staring at her.

A few terrifying seconds later the bear attacked.

“It wasn’t interested in the dogs, it just came right for me,” O’Connor said. “It just put me down and just started biting me. The first bite it took, I thought, ‘It’s going to kill me,’” she said.

Jake lunged at the bear and managed to distract it enough to lure it 10 feet away from O’Connor. O’Connor said she heard a yelp. The bear had knocked Jake down, and the dog struggled to get back up. Kyra stepped into the fray, baiting the bear away from Jake, O’Connor said. But the bear was still interested in O’Connor and attacked her again, biting her abdomen, arms and legs.

O’Connor’s husband Jerry, 55, was sitting in their cabin watching a football game when he heard a commotion. He said he hopped on an ATV and followed the screaming. He found his wife in the middle of the path, covered in blood. She had one of her walking sticks in her hand and was poking it into the air, he said. Jake was lying at her feet. Kyra was running down the trail, away from him, but he couldn’t see anything chasing the dog.

Jerry said he put his wife on the ATV, but by then the bear had come back. The dogs continued to protect them, he said, circling the ATV and keeping the bear at bay. Jerry drove Lynn to the cottage and got her in the car.

“She said, ‘We’re not leaving without Jake,” Jerry said.

Out of the corner of his eye Jerry saw something black racing around the corner at them. For one heart-stopping second, he thought it was the bear again. It was Jake. He jumped in the car and the family drove away.

“Those dogs are heroes,” Jerry said. “They were willing to give their lives for her.”

Lynn was released from the hospital Monday morning. The dogs don’t have a mark on them, Jerry said.

 

Although the investigation is ongoing, in my opinion the behaviour of this bear is very much predatory in nature. The fact that this bruin had returned following the initial attack and continued to pursue O’Connor and her dogs were there to protect her, leads me to a couple of conclusions.

1) Without her dogs present, this bear would have killed and eaten her.

2) This bear will, undoubtedly, turn-out to be a predatory male; responsible for  nearly all fatal bear attacks in North America.

The attack does; however, leave one burning question:

Was the bear possibly attracted by Country Music at this summer’s Havelock Jamboree??

 

Outdoorsguy

Arizona bear attacks sign of things to come?

bearattack1

Every summer when the warm weather arrives, folks head-out into the wilderness to enjoy some peace and solitude. Often times this means inadvertently travelling into bear country.

The state of Arizona, it seems, has been a ‘hotbed’ of activity this summer with regards to the weather and bear attacks. In less than 1 month there were three separate bear attacks; one which left a man in critical condition.

The 30-year old was airlifted  to a Scottsdale hospital after a bear crumpled his forehead and left large lacerations on the man’s legs and arm, officials said.

Given the fact that Arizona has recorded only 10 bear attacks in the last 20 years, these three attacks this summer are certainly out of the ordinary.

Officials believe the increase is attacks is primarily based on drought conditions which have forced the bears into areas with humans because their natural food sources are no longer available.

Sound familiar??

Can we expect the same here in our neck of the woods with our drought conditions?

Let’s just say, I would keep my wits about me when travelling into bear country this summer.

Outdoorsguy

Bear Warning Sign:

bearsign

Convicted killer eaten by bear in BC

 blackbear

 

According to officials in British Columbia, convicted killer Rory Nelson Wager was pulled from the open window of his car and eaten by a black bear. Investigators believe Nelson may have been dead already.

Here’s the story from the Calgary SUN:

CALGARY – The corpse of a man eaten by a B.C. bear was that of a convicted killer, officials have confirmed.

The B.C. Coroners Service identified the man as 53-year-old Rory Nelson Wagner of Kamloops, B.C., whose dismembered and partially consumed remains were found Wednesday on a remote logging road between Merritt and Kamloops.

The National Parole Board confirmed he had fled a halfway house in Kamloops.

He was convicted of second-degree murder and began his sentence on May 31, 1996, according to Correctional Services of Canada. He had recently been granted day parole.

Wagner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, along with two other men, for the 1993 killing of Langley, B.C., resident Andy Kohlman, after Kohlman had been cleared of sexual assault allegations involving a relative of Wagner’s, according to media reports.

Wagner had been missing since May 23.

“They let people know when they’re expected to return, if they’re going to be late they’re expected to phone and of course he didn’t return,” said Patrick Storey of the NPB Pacific office.

“They were aware that he was missing, however they weren’t aware until recently that he was deceased.”

Hunters spotted his vehicle on a remote logging road and called Mounties, who discovered Wagner’s body hidden beneath some brush.

Officials believe he was already dead when a black bear dragged him out of an open car window to feed on him.

The fact the adult black bear approached the vehicle, then dragged Wagner out to eat is a serious concern for the B.C. environment minister and conservation officers, who are hunting the bruin.

“The concern is once it has lost its fear of humans, then others it comes into contact with would be at risk and this is an area well-used for hiking and fishing and there’s ranching up there as well,” said Minister Terry Lake.

Traps are set and conservation officers are on the hunt.

Acting Insp. Darcy MacPhee, of the Thompson Cariboo Region’s conservation officers, said the bear is likely to return, but might have moved on for now.

While the Coroners Service is confident Wagner was already dead when the bear found him, it’s still unclear what did kill him.

“We should be able to rule a few things out very shortly after the preliminary autopsy … if there was any trauma or any natural disease that caused death,” said Mark Coleman, regional coroner for the interior region.

“If those are ruled out we’d be waiting mainly on toxicology.”

[email protected]

 

Bear saves man from cougar attack

bearcougar

Statistically speaking, a bear attack is about as likely as being struck by lighting.

And being attacked by a cougar is also not a common occurrence, even for those who travel the western backwoods on a regular basis.

So, what about being attacked by a cougar and then saved by a bear. The likelihood of that would be astronomical, right??

Any statisticians in the house??

Well, believe it or not that is precisely what one man claims happened to him this past weekend in Butte County, California.

Bob Biggs was hiking through a gorge of the Feather River in Northern California, when he spotted a mother bear and cub ahead of him on the trail. His instincts kicked-in (being a seasoned outdoorsman) as he slowly backed away giving the bear ample room.

Biggs said he actually saw the bear two more times during his walk before this story took a very strange turn.

While being mindful of a bruin in the area, without warning, Biggs was hit hard from behind by another large animal.

Oh my God, it was a cougar!!

The cougar (estimated at 100 pounds) pounced on Bob’s back and started shaking him from side to side. He suffered puncture wounds on his forearm. Biggs had a climbers axe with him he used to swat at the cougar, but to no avail.

Within seconds; however, the bear he had seen earlier was on the scene and grabbed the cougar from Bob’s back. According to Biggs, the bear fought with the cougar long enough for him to escape the mêlée.

Biggs returned home to tell his wife what had happened. She could hardly believe it since her husband had been hiking that region for 60 years without any troubles.

Officials at California‘s wildlife department are not convinced either, stating that the ‘facts in this incident have yet to be proven’.

What do you think?

Did Bob Biggs get attacked by a cougar and then miraculously saved by a nearby mother bear travelling with her cub?

Outdoorsguy

P.S. I my next Blog Post, I’ll recount the time I was held at knife point during a home invasion, when a kindly convicted felon broke-in to save me.

Hunter fatally mauled in Idaho bear attack

  Grizz

The year 2011 has proven to be the worst year on record for bear attacks; especially fatal ones, and the year isn’t over yet.

If you recall, 2005 was one of the freaky years with an abnormally high number of fatal bear attacks in North America. There were 6 fatal bear attacks that year.

So far this year there have been 7 fatal maulings(3 black bears, 3 grizzy, 1 polar), including the most recent attack on a bear hunter in Idaho.

Steve Stevenson a 39-year old hunter from Nevada was black bear hunting in Idaho with his father and two other hunting partners.

A bear appeared before the men – an animal believed to be a black bear – and was then shot-at and wounded. The ensuing attack and subsequent fatal mauling was all part of a terrible mistaken identity. 

According to NWCN.com:

 “Steve Stevenson’s hunting party shot and wounded a grizzly claiming they thought it was a black bear. The wounded grizzly attacked and killed Stevenson.

Fish and Wildlife expert Greg Johnson says this mistake is common. Six grizzly bears in roughly 30 years have been have mistakenly killed.” 

After waiting 45 minutes to track the wounded animal, the men were startled to see that, not only that it was still alive, but the animal was a 350-pound grizzly bear and not a black bear as they first thought.

Steve Stevenson was not the first of the hunters to be mauled, the grizzly attacked his son first, and elder Stevenson jumped-in to distract the beast. Steve was fatally mauled in the process.

It is, I’m sure, a concern western hunters must deal with in an ongoing basis and considering there have been 6 similar cases of ‘mistaken bear identity’ in that region, it could be somewhat of a growing problem.

The attack and circumstances around this fatal mauling bring up a whole host of questions, most notably the mistaking of a grizzly for a black bear.

I would like to think I could tell the difference between a black bear and a brown bear in the wild, but having never been faced with the dilemma could never really say for sure. It was a terrible and unfortunate incident and my heart goes out to those hunters.

My condolences to the Stevenson family on their terrible loss.

Outdoorsguy

Footnote: Just to demonstrate how similar these animals may appear in the wild, here are photos of two bears. Can you tell what species they are?

Which one is the grizzly and which is the black bear? Perhaps they are both black bears, or both grizzlies?

You see where I’m going with this…

Mystery bear #1:

Mysterybear1

Mysterybear2

Bear attacks on the rise

  Bearsign

A thought-provoking comment I received on an old post last night, from a Blog reader in BC, has prompted me to place the bear attack theories up for discussion.

What do you think about bears and bear attacks? Can they be avoided? Are they on the rise? What should be done about it?

Here is Larry Norman’s message regarding the number of bear maulings in the west recently:

Hi Jeff:

I am writing a article and wondering what are your thoughts on recent bear attacks in B.C.?

 I have been an avid outdoors person and all my encounters with bears and cubs have always been good outcomes. Common sense often dictated course of action which respected the unpredictable nature of bears and no surprise by each party…but maulings and attacks as presented by recent mainstream media seem to think its a re-occurring or prevalent problem.

Don’t get me wrong Bears will take the path of least resistance when he has a taste for human food or garbage…and I understand such “problem bears” can be viewed as a public safety concern and destroyed as any wildlife threat to humans that come into conflict….I think I want to write an article that for as many bears there are in B.C. the majority are not as conflictual in the maulings or those killed by a blk or grizzly bear….Just thought I would get your thoughts prior to writing and if I can, I will let you preview what I have written should I quote you. thank you.

Sincerely,

Larry Norman

 

This was my response:

Hello Mr. Norman, thanks for your message.

Yes, there certainly have been a number of recent attacks in the west. The 72-year old Lillooet woman has just been confirmed as being killed by at least one black bear, and another man survived a grizzly attack in BC’s central coast. I also read about another serious black bear attack in Arizona and of course, a 57-year old man was fatally attacked and a woman injured in Yellowstone earlier this week.

Although the number of recent bear maulings might indicate a ‘trend’ or some sort of rise in negative bear encounters, this time of year typically sees an increased number of grizzly and black bear maulings. From spring to late summer is the ‘high season’ for bear attacks, if you look at the statistics, and there are lots of stats out there to pore over.

As you mentioned, however, the majority of bear encounters in BC and across North America for that matter, do not end in an attack. Yes, there are a number of attacks each year some of which could have been avoided, while most in my opinion are simply unavoidable.

The 57-year man killed in Yellowstone this week by a mother grizzly with cubs is -contrary to popular belief, an extremely rare occurrence. Although sow bear attacks do occur, most if any are ever fatal. Mother bears are usually more intent on scaring you away or sending out a message not to mess with her and her young.

Male bears, on the other hand, carry with them a different intent and therefore are more of a danger to humans. Predatory bear attacks are the most common ‘fatal attack’ and occur with both black bears and brown bears(grizzly). Some have suggested that the ‘smaller salmon runs’ may be the root of some western attacks, while we always hear the story of ‘a poor berry crop this year’ as the root of many black bear encounters in the east.

The truth of the matter is that some bears, especially those in more remote areas, do occasionally target humans as their prey and when that happens you had better watch out. All the best camping and food storage techniques in the world will not protect you in bear country with a predatory male bear in the vicinity.

Take myself for example, I have been hunting and fishing in bear country for more than 30 years and though I have seen many bears in the wild, all but one went the other way immediately. I did have one male bear charge me in QC years ago, when there was no apparent reason for it. He was not pressured or cornered and had plenty of room for escape, but he instead chose to charge at me. In all likelihood, it will never happen again. I am statistically a lot more likely to be injured driving to work in the morning.

So, to answer your question about bear attacks on the rise, yes in some regions there tends to be more than others, and some years we see more incidents than other years. The year 2005, for example, was a record-setting year for bear attacks in NA and I can recall writing many articles on the subject at the time; putting forth a host of theories as to why so many people were getting mauled. In some cases bear numbers were on the increase, but really there was no hard and fast rule to explain the high numbers of deaths that year.

Ursus, as we all know, are top-level predators and omnivores with a voracious appetite. As long as we travel and spend time in bear country, there will forever be attacks and unfortunately fatal maulings.

The best we can do, if we wish to continue travelling and spending time in bear country, is to educate ourselves and be prepared for it.

Larry, I wish you luck with your article and invite you to post it here at the Outdoors Guy Blog.

Best regards,

Outdoorsguy

You thought our bears were dangerous

  sloth-bear

Over in India there is a fierce predator known as the Sloth bear – an animal perhaps the most dangerous of any land animal on earth. 

It truly puts all grizzly bears and black bears to shame, as far as aggressiveness and history of attacks and human disfigurement. 

According to Wikipedia: 

“The sloth bear is more inclined to attack man unprovoked than almost any other animal, and casualties inflicted by it are unfortunately very common, the victim being often terribly disfigured even if not killed, as the bear strikes at the head and face. Blanford was inclined to consider sloth bears more dangerous than tigers…” 

Last Wednesday alone, a sloth bear in Jarida village India went on a rampage and killed 4 people in one gruesome attack.

Killing rampages, for some reason, seem to be the Sloth bear’s speciality. According to statistics, one famous killing spree in India saw a single sloth bear responsible for the deaths of 12 people and injuries to 2 dozen others.

Let’s be thankful these angry bears don’t live in North America, as even our resident bears probably wouldn’t stand a chance against them!

Outdoorsguy

BC Campers mauled in black bear attack

bearattack1

A camper on Vancouver Island got the surprise of his life yesterday morning around 7 AM, when he awoke with a black bear inside his tent. 

Jay Vinden, a 57-year old man from Sooke BC sustained serious injury to his skull in the attack near Taylor Flats. 

The man was sleeping in a lean-to when the attack occurred. As the bear tore  into the his scalp, Vinden screamed ‘bloody murder’ and his 47-year old friend Bruce Doyle came to his aid from a nearby tent. 

After getting mauled himself, Doyle was able to reach for a knife and smack the bear on the snout, sending it fleeing back into the woods. 

The only thing Vinden can recall was hearing a snort, then rolling over in his sleeping bag and being face-to-face with a black bear which was inches away by that point. 

Both men were hospitalized with numerous claw marks, and Mr Vinden sustained serious injuries to his head requiring immediate attention. 

Although the bear weighed only about 150-pounds, officials are considering it a predatory attack. 

It is worth noting that black bears do not necessarily need to be big in order to be deadly.

The predatory bear that attacked and killed Olympic Biathlete Mary-beth Miller north of Quebec City back in 2000 weighed a scant 165 pounds. 

Outdoorsguy

bearjar

(This bear in Thunder Bay has already spent over two weeks with a plastic jar stuck to its head.  MNR have been trying to locate the animal so they can tranquilize it and remove the jar)