Posted on 06/11/2015 3:51:20 AM PDT by SJackson
Several trails, campsites closed
GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- An Ohio father fought off a black bear that was attacking his teenage son at Great Smoky Mountains National Park over the weekend.
Greg Alexander's teenage son, Gabriel, was dragged by a bear from their campsite at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, WCPO sister station WLOS reported. They were 40 miles into what was planned to be a 50-mile backpacking trip.
"I woke up to (Gabriel) screaming, and I saw a bear," Alexander told WLOS. "And it seemed to have bitten (Gabriel) in the head and was dragging him that way across the ground towards the bushes.I just had to get the bear off of him. I think I kicked the bear a couple times, and it didn't seem to have any effect. So I just jumped on (the bear) and started punching it in the face."
The bear left, but they still had to hike five miles to get help.
Gabriel "walked the whole way holding a shirt on his face to keep the bleeding down," Alexander told WLOS.
Campers with a motorboat brought them across a lake so a helicopter could airlift Gabriel to a hospital.
Gabriel, 16, of Athens, Ohio, is now in the ICU at Mission Hospital in Asheville but is stable, according to WLOS.
The bear has been euthanized, and DNA samples from the animal have been sent for testing.
Park spokeswoman Molly Schroer told the Knoxville News Sentinel that rangers found the bear at the campsite and captured it Tuesday morning. Schroer said rangers believe it's the same bear.
The DNA samples from the euthanized bear were sent for testing along with bear hair samples found at the campsite after the attack.
Several trails and campsites have been closed, possibly until after the DNA results are returned.
Alexander told WLOS that they had stored their food and belongings on an aerial storage cable.
yes, in the Park
for the record, for about a week a bear recently terrorized nearby Johnson City Tennessee with many well photographed day light encounters at widely separated locations. I think the bear got a social media site for the pictures.
AFAIK, there were no injuries
I read somewhere that black bears usually attack to eat you. They say not to play dead when attacked by a black bear. I have some large black bears showing up in my back yard now and then. One seemed to be stalking my wife from the woods. It was unnerving.
Why anyone would go camping and not carry a firearms is beyond me.
Wow,
I’ve backpacked there a couple times. Seen a few bears but never had any interaction. I suspect wither these two or the last campers didn’t bear proof their smellables sufficiently.
I’m glad the kid is OK. Scary beyond belief.
That might be true. Playing dead is the exact wrong thing to do when a bear wants to eat you. Fighting back is the right thing.
It’s sad but I looked up the bear statistics when a story ran about a black bear sow with 4(!) cubs in a den in the area. The PA state DNR advised local residents that black bears were no threat to humans as long as you left them alone. Not true. The DNR acts like wildlife is precious, human life be damned.
- - -last fall I had a sow with 4 cubs as regular visitors.
Live in southwestern Penna. This spring I’ve been getting
a visit about every 3 nites from several sizable males, I
believe. They are tall enough to reach hummingbird feeders
that are positioned well off the ground..The old dog goes nuts when senses them.
Duh. Once out of your car you are part of the food chain again.
Years ago when I was a kid, maybe 1950, we camped in Yellowstone Park. We slept on the ground in sleeping bags and in the night we were awakened by growling. There was a momma bear and her cub right in the middle of our group and she was scolding her cub. It could have been tragic.
Neither can I. What makes you think no one else does?
FYI, firearms are not permitted in GSMNP. That is not unusual for national parks, especially the most heavily used. Nor are firearms necessary there, as eastern black bear attacks on humans are EXTREMELY rare -- esp. in GSMNP.
Your smugness quotient is off the charts.
“visit about every 3 nites from several sizable males, “
I hope you have adequate firearms at the ready. You’re looking at the most dangerous bears on the continent.
I called our local animal control when the bear showed up in my yard. I live in a neighborhood with a lot of small kids. It’s not like a city but it’s a busy part of a small town. I thought they would remove the bear but they didn’t. The police showed up and told me black bears are no threat to humans. One minute after saying that he jumped on my porch when the bear moved towards him. No threat, my ass.
This is the attack and drag away incident that motivated me to carry a buck knife...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/black-bear-kills-woman-camper-north-of-chapleau-ont-1.556281
We did see some very large bears by the highway about four years ago while crossing the Rockies from Alberta to B.C. They could have been grizzlies. I didn't get out of the car to make sure.
I’ve always been told to play dead around a Grizzly/Brown bear and to run at a Black Bear yelling and waving your arms.
AFAIK, there are no Grizzlies in the CONUS only Alaska. Their cousins the Browns are a different story.
I am so glad we do not live in bear country I would be scared to go outside. Lol!
It is one thing if you are hunting them and you are armed, another if you are taking out the trash etc........
I was going to tell you a quick way to tell if they are black or grizzly. A grizzly has a hump on his back above his shoulders but you probably already knew that ; )
I’m aware of the general differences between grizzlies and brown bears (the latter now have populations where I live.) But these bears were across the road, and I wasn’t about to get out of the car to make sure what they were. They were very large however and did look like grizzlies.
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