[pct-l] Bear Killed in Section D

[Bighummel at aol.com (Bighummel@xxxxxxx)]

I have been meaning to post this to the list for a few weeks, but I've been 
too busy. Here it is anyway;

Posted in the Inland Valley Bulletin about 4 weeks ago;

<<<
Bear Suspected in Attacks Killed
By Diana L. Roemer
STAFF WRITER

A bear that attacked a hiker and a Girl Scout troop to get their food was 
trapped and killed by officers at a mountain campsite, California Fish and Game 
officials said Monday.

Spokeswoman Lorna Bernard said a trap was set for the animal July 30 after 
receiving two July reports about a "vicious" California Black Bear knocking down 
campers to get their food at Little Jimmy Campground, off Angeles Crest 
Highway north of Azusa. 

A reportedly healthy bear - believed to be the culprit because of a 
description given by campers - was killed July 31 by Fish and Game officers after he 
was trapped, Bernard said.  No one was seriously injured in the July 3 and July 
23 attacks, which Bernard said are the first reported attacks in California 
since 2001. 

But the July 23 attack was called "vicious" and "disturbing" by campers who 
witnessed it.

A group of Girl Scouts, and an off-duty U.S. Forest Service employee and his 
wife, were preparing to camp at the remote site, said Martin Wall, a Fish and 
Game patrol officer.

Campers reported a bear came crashing into their site.

"A small brown (colored) bear  . . .  entered the camp and proceeded to 
"attack" anything and everything man-made," Wall said the campers told him.  The 
bear approached with its head down while making a low pitched moaning sound, 
Wall wrote in his report.  

In the earlier reported attack, Pasadena backpacker Shane Henry, 31, settle 
at the campground at about 8 p.m.

Three minutes after he set his backpack on a picnic table he heard movement 
behind him.

"I was knocked down.  The bear was standing over me, he ambled over to my 
pack and started to drag it away," Henry said. "I think that campground was his 
haunt."

Henry, who said he received bruises from the attack, got to this feet, 
yelled, shouted and threw rocks at the 6-foot-tall bear he estimated at 300 pounds, 
in an attempt to make him drop the backpack.

Eventually the bear let go of the pack, which contained peanut butter and 
honey sandwiches packed in plastic bags, Henry said.

Henry retrieved it, saying he wasn't scared, just mad.  But he went home that 
night, he said.

Henry said he talked to Wall about the incident.

"In talking to Fish and Game, apparently that's happened before at that 
campground.  There's been bears there rooting through people's stuff," he said.

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Gail Wright said throwing rocks at bears is 
not behavior officials recommend.
>>>>


" Hey Yogi, how about some peanut butter and honey sandwiches?"

Be careful out there,

Greg Hummel