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Bear Attacks Ten Year Old in Conneticut


Jim_

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Bear attacks 10-year-old in grandparents' Connecticut backyard, tries to drag him away before being fatally shot

A 250-pound black bear mauled a 10-year-old boy playing in his grandparents' backyard in Connecticut and tried to drag him away before the animal was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

The child was attacked about 11 a.m. Sunday in the town of Morris, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.

Officers from the state police and DEEP's environmental conservation force responded and shot the bear, authorities said.

The boy's grandfather described the harrowing attack to the Republican-American of Waterbury. James Butler said his grandson was playing near a trampoline when the bear emerged from thick woods behind the house.

"I heard him yell 'bear' and when I looked up, I saw his leg in the bear's mouth and the bear trying to drag him across the lawn," Butler said.

Butler, who uses a wheelchair, wheeled his chair toward the bear and threw a metal bar at its head, he told the newspaper.

The bear released the boy but then grabbed the child a second time and used its claws to try to roll the boy onto his back, the grandfather said.

A neighbor alerted by the boy's screams raced over and scared the bear off by brandishing a pipe and yelling, Butler said.

Once Butler and his grandson were safely inside the house, the bear returned, walking up a wheelchair ramp and peering at them through a screen door, Butler said.

"We thought he was coming through the screen," Butler said. "No doubt he was a big threat."

The bear was fatally shot by police a short time later.

Butler and his wife, Christina Anderson, who was inside the house when the bear attacked, said the boy suffered a puncture wound to one thigh, bite marks on a foot and ankle and claw marks on his back.

State biologist Jenny Dixon said the risk of negative bear-human interactions is increasing as Connecticut's expanding bear population becomes acclimated to humans and develops a taste for their food.

In September, a black bear crashed a 2-year-old's birthday party in Connecticut and devoured some cupcakes. No one was injured. 

In August, a couple caught a hungry black bear helping itself to a meal inside their Connecticut home.

Black bears are becoming increasingly common in Connecticut as the population continues to grow and expand, according to the DEEP. In 2019, approximately 7,300 bear sightings from 150 of the state's 169 towns were reported to the agency's wildlife division.

 

Governor Murphy's Office .... 609 292-6000

Locate (if needed) your NJ State Legislature, and call them ...   ROSTER

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Always see more bear than deer in NJ woods hunting. I had a young bear (maybe a yearling) watch me while barbecuing last summer. He came out of the woods into my yard right where my four-year-old was playing minutes before.  I tried to scare it away with an air horn, but it would walk into the wood line and come back. My 870 helped me finish the food and clean up as quick as I could. The wildlife biologist I contacted said that the behavior was strange but not predatory. Not too sure about that. If he is watching, you he is learning your habits. 

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2 hours ago, Silkcitymedic said:

Always see more bear than deer in NJ woods hunting. I had a young bear (maybe a yearling) watch me while barbecuing last summer. He came out of the woods into my yard right where my four-year-old was playing minutes before.  I tried to scare it away with an air horn, but it would walk into the wood line and come back. My 870 helped me finish the food and clean up as quick as I could. The wildlife biologist I contacted said that the behavior was strange but not predatory. Not too sure about that. If he is watching, you he is learning your habits. 

That’s not predatory, he’s watching to see if you leave him/her some food. It’s not learning how to attack you. Bears are hyper curious and food smells will always bring them in. Just a bear being a bear. 

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9 hours ago, Big one said:

 A bear broke into a well fenced in goat pen off Townsbury RD in Warren County and drug it off.

How soon before more human contact?

can a property owner legally shot a bear in a livestock pen or attacking a pet or livestock?

Maybe 27 years ago a farmer in Jefferson Twp. in Morris County lost most of his sheep to a bear. He sat in the barn the next night and shot the bear when it came back. He was not charged. That was long before the hunts which, of course, have been halted by our fool of a Governor. 

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43 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

He sat in the barn the next night and shot the bear when it came back. He was not charged.

I don't know all the laws regarding this, but wouldn't that still be legal today? Or do bears enjoy some special status? I am pretty sure you can kill coyotes, foxes, groundhogs 24/7/365 if you catch them in the act damaging property or attacking livestock.

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13 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

I don't know all the laws regarding this, but wouldn't that still be legal today? Or do bears enjoy some special status? I am pretty sure you can kill coyotes, foxes, groundhogs 24/7/365 if you catch them in the act damaging property or attacking livestock.

Legal if you have a farmers permit

“In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen.” -Theodore Roosevelt

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