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Posted on 07/11/2003 5:10:46 AM PDT by marktwain
Camper attacked by bear
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.
Greeve's screams woke the other campers, who chased the bear out of the camp.
After the incident, the group rafted 60 miles in near-100 degree temperatures and arrived in Green River Monday night.
Greeve was then driven to Castle View Hospital in Price, where he was treated and released. On Tuesday, Greeve suspected an infection had started to develop in some of his wounds, and was taken to the Ashley Valley Medical Center in Vernal.
He has since been released and returned to his home in Wilsonville, Ore.
Greeve was not immediately available for comment.
"They might move toward some rabies treatments," said Bruce Palmer, executive director of NOLS, a Wyoming-based nonprofit organization that leads mostly college-age students on wilderness trips around the world.
The group was five days into a 16-day trip when the bear attacked. The rest of the group is still floating down the river.
Although people have seen bears in the area, this is the first time a bear has attacked a person in Desolation Canyon and is the first bear attack in Utah in 11 years.
"There [are] a high number of bears in those mountains," said Derris Jones, southeastern regional manager with the Division of Wildlife Resources.
"We've had several years of dry conditions and we are having bears show up in places that they normally wouldn't go. Normally they would be in higher elevations."
Wildlife managers flew into the campsite Tuesday, but were unable to find the bear. The search has since been called off and wildlife managers are advising people not to camp around Fret Falls, suspecting the bear could return.
"We hope it doesn't come back," Jones said. "We hope it got scared as much as the boy who got attacked got scared."
If the bear is found, the Division of Wildlife Resources plans to kill it and test it for rabies and any other disease that may have contributed to its behavior.
Palmer credits NOLS instructors with treating Greeve and getting him to the hospital quickly.
"All of our instructors have a minimum of a wilderness first aid response certification," Palmer said. "They are well trained. They're the people you want to be out there with you."
NOLS guides several trips through Desolation Canyon each year and plans to take another group through the canyon in July.
The last Utah black bear attack was believed to be in June 1992, when a black bear broke through a camper shell window at Strawberry Reservoir and pulled a 9-year-old girl out of her sleeping bag.
The bear dragged the girl about 50 yards to a barbed-wire fence, where the girl's grandfather managed to ward off the attack.
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Mom critical of teen's care after bear hit-snip-
"He should have been life-flighted out," said Waynette Greeve. "Whoever made the call shouldn't have taken that chance to be 14 hours on that river. He could have died floating down the river."
-snip-
Green River is the first town south of the attack site. The nearest helicopter is probably out of St. Mary's in Grand Junction, CO, about 100 miles east. St. Mary's is the best emergency care facility between Denver and Salt Lake - that's their core competency.
One can take more effective steps to reduce the risk of being struck. Stay away from tall trees, and get into a low area if storms are near. A lot more people are in areas where lightning is present than in areas where black bears are present. As the black bear population rises, the number of attacks is increasing.
A pistol serves multiple purposes, and is proven effective against the deadliest predator in the woods... Man. It is simple common sense to go about armed.
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