Tragedy
Obviously, I have a lot of fun here with my "animal uprising" shtick. But this is definitely not at all humorous in any way. An 11-year old Utah boy, out camping with his family was dragged from his tent and killed by a black bear.
AMERICAN FORK, Utah – An 11-year-old boy was dragged screaming from his family's tent and killed by a black bear during a Father's Day outing in the Utah wilderness.
The boy, his mother, stepfather and a 6-year-old brother were sleeping in a large tent Sunday night in American Fork Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, when the stepfather heard the boy scream "something's dragging me."
The boy and his sleeping bag were gone. The cut in the nylon tent was so clean, his family, who was not identified, first believed the boy had been abducted, U.S Forest Service officers said.
Wearing flip-flops and without a flashlight, the stepfather searched frantically for the boy and then drove a mile down a dirt road to a developed campground.
"He was pounding on my trailer door. He said somebody cut his tent and took his son," said John Sheely, host of the Timpooneke campground, who alerted authorities by driving down the canyon to a pay phone.
The boy's body was found about 400 yards away from the campsite, said Lt. Dennis Harris of the Utah County sheriff's office.
Wildlife officers led by hound dogs killed the bear Monday. After the bear was shot, an examination of the remains confirmed that it was the killer, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said.
"Truly a tragic event, said Jim Karpowitz, director of the agency. "Events of this type are extremely rare in Utah."
Which is a fairly disingenuous statement. The fact of the matter – according to the article itself – is that incidents involving bear attacks are on the upswing in Utah. Just not a lot of deaths. Yet.
Authorities said the death was Utah's first fatal attack on a human by a black bear. It follows reports of several bear sightings during spring and occurred just hours after other people in the same primitive campsite likely encountered the same animal.
The attack occurred in American Fork Canyon, a popular camping destination with elevations as high as 11,000 feet.
"When it's hot and dry like this, bears are short of food," Karpowitz said.
In May, officials reported black bears in Provo Canyon and Park City, including one that ripped through a screen door at a cabin where residents had burned food and opened windows.
Officers killed that bear because it showed no fear when biologists tried to scare it away with firecrackers, the wildlife agency said.
In July 2006, a black bear bit the arm of a 14-year-old Boy Scout while he slept in a tent, also in Utah County. The female bear returned to the campground and was killed.
An ugly fact here, folks. Wild animals are not – in any way, shape or form – the friendly creatures seen in Disney movies. They are not human and they have no human characteristics. And the predators, such as black bears, will see humans as a source of food if they are not afraid of them. Back when I was growing up, a big night of entertainment was going to the local town dump in the Adirondack Mountains to watch the "dump bears" scavenge through getting food. The dumps are gone now of course, replaced by landfills. And we have ever increasing numbers of wild predators that are not particularly afraid of humans. There is a collision coming.
My heart goes out to that family. And especially to that 11-year old boy.
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Maggie's Farm — June 19, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
By Roz, June 19, 2007 @ 8:03 am
Agree, absolutely. When younger, I lived close to Everglades & kept horses. Out on daily rides, nature regularly presented herself draped “red in tooth & claw”. Years later, watched docu on just this subject – bear attacks on humans. The program detailed 4 attacks, added commentary from victims surviving family members (!) and the anthropomorphists. WOW. Teachable moment…