Yet another bear attack

“Minnesota wildlife researcher in fair condition after being attacked by black bear

The Associated Press
9/16/02 10:28 AM


ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) -- A wildlife researcher was in fair condition Monday after a rare attack by a black bear, normally a timid species that runs from people.

Miles Becker was tracking woodcocks fitted with radio transmitters when the bear attacked him Sunday in the Four Brooks Wildlife Management Area 10 miles north of Milaca in central Minnesota.

Becker, 24, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment of broken facial bones, puncture wounds to his head and left leg, lacerations and a broken leg.

Wildlife officials set a trap for the bear, one of an estimated 30,000 in the state.

Dick Tuszynski, manager of the Mille Lacs Wildlife Management Area, speculated that Becker might have been wearing earphones to listen to the birds' transmitters and might not have heard potential bear warning signs such as growls.

"I've bumped into bears when I was out jogging early in the morning or when hunting, but bears are almost always wary and will leave," he said. "It's usually them that run away."

The only other black bear attack recorded in Minnesota happened in 1987, when a bear attacked campers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of extreme northern Minnesota, said Dave Garshelis, a bear biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

That bear might have been seeking food, Garshelis said. This year, however, berries, nuts and other foods are so abundant in Minnesota's forests that hunters have been having trouble luring bears with bait, he said.

In August, a black bear dragged away and killed a 5-month-old girl in New York state's Catskills.

Black bears have killed only about 50 or fewer people in North America in the past century, according to the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minn.

In most cases, the bears "are just big chickens," Lynn Rogers, director of the center and of the Wildlife Research Institute, said after the New York attack. "They've survived by running without question. The littlest hound can chase the biggest bear up a tree."”

“I think by now it should be obvious to everyone that our own domestic black bear population has bee subverted by al Qaeda.”

“Grizzly 'comes back from dead' to attack hunter who shot it

A hunter has been attacked by a grizzly bear he had shot and left for dead the day earlier.

Larry J Miller's life was saved by his wife Brinda, who shot the grizzly dead as it tried to tear her husband to pieces.

The animal jumped on Mr Miller as he returned to the scene of the shooting in the forests near Anchorage, Alaska.

Both Mr Miller and his wife believed there was no way the animal could have survived.

Mr Miller told the Anchorage Daily News: "The noise it made, like nothing you've ever heard - snapping, snapping, snapping. This happened in two seconds. He knew who I was. He could smell my guns or the caribou meat on me, something."

The bear hit him and he fell back and started kicking as the grizzly tried to bite his face and neck.

As he struggled to take the safety off of his rifle, the bear started biting him across his calf.

He yelled for his wife to shoot.

Mr Miller told the paper: "She stuck the gun over my face and fired. There was this horrible noise out of his throat. The next time he grabbed me between the ankle and calf and picked me up and shook me like I was a half-a-pound kid."

The bear finally slumped dead after Mrs Miller shot it in the chest three times.”

“The moral: Take your wife bear hunting with you.”

“I don't think I can ever read another TT post about a bear attack without remembering bacpac's " when will people learn not to put food in their babies?"

God, that cracked me up (and still does)!”

“A friend of mine just returned from a hunting trip. They saw 17 different grizzly bears in a week. He said 11 were very agressive. Of course he was packing his bighirn sheep out too.”

“I was worried that the bear that I had to run off last week was going to come back. He didn't seem scared at all and I was launching some big rocks at him. I like the bears that see you and run away.”

“Wow!!! That happened about 30 miles from where I lifed in MN...
Good think I'm safe in Arizona :)
I've only seen ONE bear (with cubs) in the hundreds of miles I've hiked in Minnesota. I've hiked in that wildlife area, though, and I saw bear sign, but no bear.”

“"I know, walkindude, sweetie. hence the :) in my post above. And we have mountain lions too..."”

“Ahhhh. Gotcha now.”

“Lions and tigers and bears oh my.............”