Colorado Teen Wakes Up With Head In Bears Mouth

[maverick]

WARD, Colo. -- A teen staffer at a Colorado camp fought off a bear after waking up Sunday to find the animal biting his head and trying to drag him away.

The 19-year-old woke up at around 4 a.m. to a "crunching sound" with his head inside the mouth of the bear, which was trying to pull him out of his sleeping bag as he slept outside at Glacier View Ranch 48 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said. The teen punched and hit it and other staffers who were sleeping nearby yelled and swatted at the bear, which eventually left, she said.

The staffer, identified only as Dylan, was treated briefly at a hospital and released.

"I never thought I would be attacked by a bear," Dylan told CBS Denver. "I woke up to a crunching sound and a lot of pain… The bear had a hold of my head and was dragging me across the ground."

As the bear's teeth tore into flesh, Dylan told CBS Denver fought back with all of the strength he had.

"I just started hitting the bear as hard as I could," Dylan said. "And I found its eye, and I started poking it with my fingers…and it dragged me for about 10 feet before I was able to get it off of me."

Dylan teaches wilderness survival at the camp owned by the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh Day Adventists.

Dylan and the other staffers were near teepees where 12- and 13-year-old campers were sleeping. None of them were hurt.

Black bears aren't usually aggressive but have attacked several people in the West in recent weeks.

A woman and her dogs were attacked on Tuesday after they apparently surprised an adult bear and her cub in a huckleberry patch in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

Last month, black bears killed two people in Alaska in separate attacks.

Sixteen-year-old Patrick "Jack" Cooper of Anchorage was killed after he got lost and veered off a trail during a mountain race south of Anchorage. Mine contract worker Erin Johnson of Anchorage died and her co-worker was injured in a mauling about 275 miles northeast of Anchorage.

Black bears will defend their young and have been known to paw and bite tents with food inside. After the Colorado attack wildlife officers did not find any food that would have attracted the bear so they have set bear traps in the area and plan to continue a search for the bear with scent dogs on Monday.

The bear's behavior was so atypical that any bear found in the traps in the next few days will likely be euthanized and officials will test later to see if it was the same bear involved in the attack using DNA evidence, Churchill said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bear-bites- ... -the-head/

[rlown]

The bears are just hungry after the long winter. Not saying that makes it right, but if legal in CO, maybe just spray some bear spray outside the tent as a pretend deterrent. In CA, it's the fact that i sleep light and have the pile of rocks outside the tent, and the pack is strapped to a tree or rock that keeps me thinking I'm safe.

[AlmostThere]

Spraying bear spray around is an attractant -- it's only deterrent if it's sprayed in the eyes and nose of the bear....

That's the first account that identified the bear as a black -- it wasn't clear to me in other versions. Surprising -- the only place I've heard of aggressive black bears is Alaska where pretty much everything is out to get you...

[rlown]

Spraying bear spray around is an attractant -- it's only deterrent if it's sprayed in the eyes and nose of the bear....

That's the first account that identified the bear as a black -- it wasn't clear to me in other versions. Surprising -- the only place I've heard of aggressive black bears is Alaska where pretty much everything is out to get you...

I've only seen aggressive black bears in Yose in the "Olden days." Near the old food hang wires and if you got between the sow and her cubs. Pelt the ones near the wires, and step away slowly from betwixt the sow and cubs.. Now a bear locked onto your skull is a different game. The poking of the eyes sounds like a great idea if you have the ability to do so.

And AT, I'm not dismissing what you stated. For those that don't know about bears:

http://www.bearsmart.com/about-bears/dispelling-myths/

[maverick]

Spraying bear spray around is an attractant

Perfume.

[Harlen]

"That's the first account that identified the bear as a black -- it wasn't clear to me in other versions. Surprising -- the only place I've heard of aggressive black bears is Alaska where pretty much everything is out to get you..."

Having lived and traveled extensively throughout Alaskan backcountry, (often following wildlife- including grizzly bears with a telephoto lens) that statement takes my breath away.

Russ' reference of bear myths reconsidered by biologist Lynn Rodgers is a good start, Dave Smith's popular account titled Backcountry Bear Basics is well-researched and excellent, but if anyone is interested in further scientific bear studies, you might go on to read Canadian bear biologist and expert Dr. Stephen Herrero's scientific papers, and his definitive account on bear-human interactions: Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. There is a chapter on predaceous black bear incidents that might clear up some misconceptions, e.g., some incidents occurred in places like upstate New York and rural Michigan.

Black bear are the sole remaining bear species in Colorado. Grizzlies have been absent from Colorado for nearly 40 years:

(Note: the San Juan Mountains of Colorado also were identified as an area of possible grizzly bear occurrence, but no evidence of grizzly bears has been found in the San Juan Mountains since a bear was killed there in 1979.) Interagency
Grizzly Bear Committee/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Dept.