Bear euthanized after biting photo taking hiker

"A man was bitten as he was trying to take a picture of a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but the injury was minor and did not require medical attention."

Full story

60 lb female??? a cub?? Or is that 600lb?

that's a big difference, could be "Awwww, cute" to "Awww, cr*p"!

Jay

It didn't say that he was infringing on the bears territory or simply in the wrong spot, so I can't make a judgement on the man. Why can't they just relocate the bear. They lose everytime (we are in "their" backyard not the other way around)

That park policy sucks. How do they know which bear bit the person? ( not that I agree any bear should be euthanized automatically due to one incident with a human who put themselves at risk in the bear's home )

forestgnome said:

That park policy sucks. How do they know which bear bit the person? ( not that I agree any bear should be euthanized automatically due to one incident with a human who put themselves at risk in the bear's home )

Click to expand...

I agree. I'm also unhappy with their use of the word "euthanized" as a euphemism for "killed." If the bear was sick or injured, and the intent of the killing was to relieve its suffering, that's euthanasia. This was not euthanasia.

I suspect that the reason the bear was euthanized was because it bit a human. They have no choice. Being a mammal, bears can have rabies although this is rare.
They need to check the brain to see is it is afflicted so they can treat the photographer if they get a positive result. For obvious reasons this needs to be done in a timely way.

Have made several trips to the Smokes and I observed tourists feeding bears even though there are plenty of signs warning against this practice. Some people appear to have a need to get up close and personal to adult bears and their cubs to get the perfect photo. I have seen the rangers trying to curb these behaviors but its a difficult task at best. It appears that people are capable of developing serious hearing deficits when being told to "back off".

Bears always pay the ultimate price and too often because of people's foolishness. Not saying that is what happened in the case but all too often it is. Very sad!

Maddy said:

I suspect that the reason the bear was euthanized was because it bit a human. They have no choice. Being a mammal, bears can have rabies although this is rare.
They need to check the brain to see is it is afflicted so they can treat the photographer if they get a positive result. For obvious reasons this needs to be done in a timely way.

Click to expand...

There are other possible reasons, too:

As I understand it, bears are pretty common in that area. There may be no place to relocate the bear in the area that isn't already saturated. Relocated bears often come back too.

Unfortunate, but there may be no better way to deal with habituated bears in the area. (However, the report does not have enough info to determine whether this was a problem bear rather than just a problem human.)

Doug

Jay H said:

60 lb female??? a cub?? Or is that 600lb?

that's a big difference, could be "Awwww, cute" to "Awww, cr*p"!

Jay

Click to expand...

it has to be 60 lb. Female black bears don't grow to 600 lb. A fully mature female may reach 300 but that's the upper limit. 60 lb means she was practically still a cub, and possibly a malnourished one at that. At that age (probably under two years), they are still sometimes dependent on their mother, but there was no mention of a mama bear, so this one might be an orphan, or recently independent. So you can't blame her for being a bit cranky when some dumbass shoves a camera in her face.
An actual bite by a subadult bear is pretty unusual, so a rabies check is probably necessary, but still unfortunate. I certainly hope the photographer is being investigated for harassment or feeding of wildlife.
bummer.

Sketchy story followed by all kinds of internet outrage and speculation.

Ridiculous.

Too bad the incident happened.

I agree there should be rabies screening in a post mortem on the bear and the victim should undergo rabies treatment, as a precaution, if so advised by a competent physician.

Modern rabies treatments are inconvenient, but not as bad as they once may have been. Inconvenience is a small price compared to what might happen without precautionary treatment.

G.

People may be wrong but we can't shoot them for that. We can shoot bears.

I saw three dead deer on the side of the road on my short commute through the suburbes. We can't shoot deer in the burbs.

Little Rickie said:

... I saw three dead deer on the side of the road on my short commute through the suburbes. We can't shoot deer in the burbs.

Click to expand...

A sign of deer overpopulation ... I have read that there are many times the number of whitetailed deer in their range today than when the Pilgrims landed in MA, 1620.

G.

Result of clearing the land for farmland. The deer are thriving while the bears have been driven into the remaining woods. I was told there were more bears in central ny than deer at one time.

"it has to be 60 lb. Female black bears don't grow to 600 lb. A fully mature female may reach 300 but that's the upper limit."

Not sure if this is correct. A couple of decades ago there was a habituated bear that concerned everyone. He was huge, I believe I read he was over 600lbs. Called 'Cliff', he would brazen his way into campsites around Marcy Dam, Avalance, Flowed Lands and take food. Often chasing campers out of leantos to get food or food prepartions.
One spring Cliff was spotted with a pair of her cubs and 'he' was discovered to be a 'she'. Cliff eventually had to be killed as everyone believed it was a matter of time until a serious injury or death occurred.
I'm sure part of Cliff's size was the hiker's diet she consumed as part of her daily rounds over a long period of time.

The American Bear Association says:

Male black bears ordinarily will range in size (weight) from 125 to over 600 lbs, with typical weight of about 250 lbs. The world record weight is 880 lbs, a male bear 10.75 years old shot in North Carolina in late 1998. Male bears in Pennsylvania commonly hit and top the 800 lbs mark.

Females ordinarily weigh in at 90 to over 300 lbs, with a typical weight of about 150 lbs.

Males are said to generally be about a third larger than females of the same age. East coast bears are larger than western black bears.

Lots of info at:

http://www.americanbear.org/

G.

Another reason that I suspect that the rangers in the smoky mountains take such a radicle stand is because of the woman that was partically eaten by a bear 3 years ago. She went into the park to either hike or trail run with her x-husband. Some hikers found her, before her husband showed up, being eaten by one particular female bear that had a cub with her. The bear had been around for quite a few years and the park had never had a problem with her. Famous last words. That bear would not give up the womans body and had to be killed on the spot. I do not think that the rangers there ever figured out why the woman was attacked.

I do feel bad about the bear in the store above that bit the photog. Relocating bears in New Hanpshire has not worked too well and I suspect that is the way in the Smokies. Many bears find their way back to the source of an "easy" meal quite quickly. But humans are "animals" too. And I believe that we have a right to roam around the woods doing our best to stay out of the way of the most harmful of the wild animals in the woods and being respectul of mother nature in general.

Now if the stories of the sitings of the Puma here in MAssachusettes and other places in the North East US of A turn out to be correct... We All better watch out.

Grumpy said:

A sign of deer overpopulation ... I have read that there are many times the number of whitetailed deer in their range today than when the Pilgrims landed in MA, 1620.

G.

Click to expand...

Which is the greater danger to humans?

Peakbagr said:

"it has to be 60 lb. Female black bears don't grow to 600 lb. A fully mature female may reach 300 but that's the upper limit."

Not sure if this is correct. A couple of decades ago there was a habituated bear that concerned everyone. He was huge, I believe I read he was over 600lbs. Called 'Cliff', he would brazen his way into campsites around Marcy Dam, Avalance, Flowed Lands and take food. Often chasing campers out of leantos to get food or food prepartions.
One spring Cliff was spotted with a pair of her cubs and 'he' was discovered to be a 'she'. Cliff eventually had to be killed as everyone believed it was a matter of time until a serious injury or death occurred.
I'm sure part of Cliff's size was the hiker's diet she consumed as part of her daily rounds over a long period of time.

Click to expand...

Perhaps I misunderstood your post Peakbagr...but what Hobbitling was saying was that female black bears don't reach 600 pounds, males do. FWIW, The record is 880 pounds.

Cliff was a huge bear that the biologists believe was a large male until Cliff showed up with cubs.
I'm not a biologist but remember reading articles about Cliff and when shot, she was much larger than the average female.
I understood what Hobbitling wrote, I was just relating from memory that there was at least one exception. Wish I could lay my hands on some of the media.