Six-year-old camper killed by bear

[doughboy1956]

Girl's mother and brother injured

Friday, April 14, 2006 Posted: 1128 GMT (1928 HKT)

A bear attacked a family at a camp site in the Cherokee National Forest on Thursday, killing a 6-year-old girl and injuring her 2-year-old brother and mother, authorities said.

The attack took place near a pool of water on Chilhowee Mountain, said Dan Hicks, spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Witnesses described the bear picking up the boy in its mouth while the mother and other visitors tried to fend it off with sticks and rocks, Hicks said. The mother was injured before the bear was chased away.

The girl ran away during that attack, but was found dead a short time later with the bear nearby. A park ranger fired at least one shot at the bear before it bolted off.

The woman and her son were flown by helicopter to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, where both were being treated for wounds consistent with a bear attack, Hicks said.

Hospital officials did not immediately return calls for comment, but Hicks said the boy was listed in critical condition. The victims' names were not released.

Forest Service employees, TWRA game agents and several hunters were searching for the bear in an area spanning several thousand acres.

The 640,000-acre park runs along the southeastern Tennessee border with North Carolina, southwest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

[Squirrelhunter91]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

I guess that's one of those tragedies that couldn't have really been prevented. It's a freak accident.

[BuckNrut]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

The best chance of surviving a bear attack is to assume the fetal position and play dead.

[jbeck]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Best chance of surviving a bear attack is to make sure the bear doesn't survive yours. JMO

[Turkeygirl]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

I heard about it on the news this morning; very sad to hear. It's the risk some take when camping in bear populated areas and one of those 1 in a million type of circumstances. I hope the other 2 make it ok.

[Strut10]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

[ QUOTE ]

Best chance of surviving a bear attack is to make sure the bear doesn't survive yours. JMO

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly.

[archerjg]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Saw that on the news earlier. Sad thing to hear, thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

Archerjg

[whttlbucksteve]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

I would be packing a pistol if camping in bear country.But thats just me

[stevebeilgard]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

i've guided and fished in bear country since 1980. you'll never find me there without my defender shotgun

[buckee]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

[ QUOTE ]

The best chance of surviving a bear attack is to assume the fetal position and play dead.

[/ QUOTE ]

That may be true with Grizzlies, but not black-bears.

A Griz may still maul you and chew you up pretty bad, even if your playing dead, and maybe even bury you with twigs, dirt and leaves, but will eventually leave you alone.

Playing dead with Blacky is an old wives tale

A black-bear, will rip you open right there on the spot and have a feed first. You won't catch me playing dead for a black-bear.

The best thing to do to fend off a black-bear is to raise your arms high above your head (making yourself appear larger than you really are) and making lots of noise. I even had to take that one step further when I was tested with a short charge one time. I short charged right back, yelling and holding my hands above my head. It did the trick, and I didn't stick around to find out if the bear had gone far or not after he ran. If you end up between a cub and it's mother, you have a big problem on your hands.

I always carry bear spray in the woods for really close encounters only. I've never been that close that I've had to use it, but almost once.

I've had way too many nasty encounters with bears, where things could have turned sour real quick. I don't trust them any further than I can see them.

[superguide]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Yeah Buckee is right-you play dead with a Grizz but you better fight for your life if you tangle with a Black Bear.

[doughboy1956]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Playing dead or not, tha sad part of this is that one was 6 and one was a 2 year old. They would not understand. Prayers gone out for them.

[Swamphunter]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

[ QUOTE ]

Yeah Buckee is right-you play dead with a Grizz but you better fight for your life if you tangle with a Black Bear.

[/ QUOTE ]

My brother in law and I were hunting at my hunting camp and he was just getting ready to climb down from his stand at dusk and a black bear cub came wandering in. He made the right decision and stayed put for about an additional half hour after he had stood up in his stand and made some noise and waved his arms to scare the cub off. We hunt in the Adirondacks and help can be a long way off if you tangle with one of these bears.

[wtnhunt]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

This sad story has been all over the news here. Really sad. They did catch a bear, they think it was the bear responsible for the attack.

[Guest PAT_PATTERSON]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Ok, so no one else is going to say it or ask so I will. What in the blue blazes was she doing up in bear country with 2 small children. Sure the spring time is great to be outdoors but come on in those areas it also bear time in the mountains. Spring is one of the most dangerous times, bears looking for food. In those areas they post information about bears because they are so common. So why was she there and how did a bear get between her and her 2 year old son. Who was watching the 6 year old? If you read the story coming out of the local papers up there it makes you wonder.

Now don't get me wrong my heart goes out to that family for loosing a child. But someone really screwed up here for putting those kids in danger.

Yes they caught a bear don't know if it was the right one but they killed it and sent it off to the University lab to find out if it had any human remains inside.

This whole episode is tragic, would being able to hunting these bears in their sanctuary, (there is no hunting where this happened) have made a difference? who is to say, but bears are being programed to humans equals food. They are not afraid of us, maybe if they were this would not have happened.

[Shaun_300]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

Wow, that's terrible! Prayers sent out to the family.

[Guest longknife]

Re: Six-year-old camper killed by bear

that makes the third attack in the past 5years in that and the surrounding area of the GSM park.one happened not to far from where i live on the trail here in western,NC.I feel for them,No word's can express the loss of a child.The bears are going to the santuary because they are being dogged so hard on other land's and causes more bear to show up then you have a food shortage problem,hence the killing begins ending in the death of a perfectly innocent child.The Goverment "who control's these sanctuary land's" need's to do one of two things close it off to hiker's or allow a short season "alloted with permit's" for bear hunters to go in and kill a certain amount to thin it down some but they won't.It is just a matter of time of before it happen's right here because we have bear sanctuary's all around us and they have hiker trails all through the middle of them.The only thing you can do during hunting season there is hog and deer hunting.The death of this six year old should wake the land officials up but it won't,they play blind to it.