Bear bite surprises Oregon man
Bears hungry as summer continues
"He screamed, hollered, rolled into a ball and got up. Then the bear
was gone."
-Blaine County Sheriff Sgt. Jay Davis
This
camper, belonging to Broadford Run resident Robert Carter Jr., fell victim to a black bear
last Thursday when the bear was apparently looking for a tasty morsel to chew on.
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
A Portland, Ore. man got quite a surprise early last Wednesday morning
when a black bear chomped on his right thigh while he slept under the stars at the North
Fork Campground in the North Fork of the Big Wood River drainage.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials and Blaine County Sheriff
personnel determined the bite was not an attack. The bear was simply sifting through
camping gear, apparently looking for food, Fish and Game conservation officer Roger Olson
said Monday.
Among the gear was a sleeping bag with James Atkinson, 40, in it.
Atkinson was passing through the Wood River Valley on a summer vacation
when he encountered the North Fork bear, according to Blaine County Deputy Sheriff Sgt.
Jay Davis. Davis took a report from Atkinson at the emergency room at Wood River Medical
Center in Hailey the following day.
Atkinson was treated and released, Davis said, with two small puncture
wounds on each side of his thigh. He was given a rabies shot, which, according to Olson,
is standard procedure with wildlife bites.
According to Davis, Atkinson heard the bear rummaging through a cooler
several minutes before it bit his leg. Atkinson then felt pressure on his leg, followed by
a bite, Davis said.
"He screamed, hollered, rolled into a ball and got up. Then the bear
was gone," Davis said.
Olson said such events are "very, very rare."
"It would never be a concern of mine," he said. "We
didn’t consider this an aggressive act at all."
On July 6, a bear—possibly Atkinson’s biting bear—tore and
bent a camper’s metal door in the same campground, Olson said. The camper belongs to
Robert Carter Jr., who lives on Broadford Road.
"That kind of action prompted me to get the bear trap and put it in
there," Olson said.
Olson placed the trap in the campground on July 6 but hadn’t had any
success at press deadline. He said if he does trap a bear there, he will relocate it to an
area at least 40 miles away.
Fish and Game’s bear traps are constructed from a large steel culvert
pipe with a closing door. When a bear attempts to take the bait—in this case trout,
pastries and cherries—the door closes behind it, Olson said.
Olson said the bear or bears are likely attracted to the North Fork
Campground because of the smell humans inevitably leave behind. In fact, all campgrounds
end up with smells that will be appealing to bears, he said.
Olson offered this advice about bears to locals and visitors:
"If you don’t think you would ever have a problem with a bear,
you’re wrong."
Lock garage doors and bring pet food indoors, he said. Take trash out only
on pick-up mornings, and take bird feeders in during summer months.
Although black bear attacks are very rare, a woman may have been attacked
and killed by a black bear in Quebec City, Canada last weekend.
Mary Beth Miller, 24, a biathlete, was running in the woods when the bear
reportedly attacked her. She was found with a bite on the back of her neck.
On Wednesday, a female bear that was presumed to be the killer was trapped
and killed by military and wildlife officials.
Traces of mother’s milk on the bear’s body indicated that it may
have been distraught about a missing cub, the Associated Press reported.
DNA testing is underway to confirm whether the woman was killed by the
bear.
