View Full Version : Bear Attack (Not on A.T.)
Minnesota Woman Injured in Bear Attack
CARLTON, Minn. - A woman was severely injured when she was attacked by a black bear while walking in woods in northeast Minnesota, officials said.
Mary Lou Munn, 50, managed to call authorities after the attack but was found lying in her front yard with several severe cuts to her leg, back, stomach and shoulders, authorities said.
She was reported in good condition Saturday after surgery at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth.
Munn told sheriff's deputies she was walking in the woods by a nearby beaver pond when the attack occurred.
She said she fought the bear with a small stick and her fists and her dog tried to help, but the bear chased the dog off and continued attacking her, authorities said.
After the bear left her alone, she walked a quarter mile back to her home and called police, sheriff's officials said.
Link to original article: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=8&u=/ap/20050731/ap_on_re_us/brf_bear_attack
art to linda
07-31-2005, 10:09
The bears are very noticable here this year due to a heavy crop of all the many kinds of berries. The wild foods along with the recent mild winters have lead to an increase in the bear population. Since this is also looking to be a banner year for apples more bears will be showing up in peoples yards around here. Last fall one of my neighbors, about 2 miles from my place, wouldn't even go into her yard because a young one was showing up to dine on the apples there.
I live in central Mn., quite a ways south from this attack, but for the first time in 26 years saw a bear walking along the road last fall. While I have many forms of wild life showing up at my place to dine on the things I grow, I do not really want to find a bear among them........my apple trees are loaded so I'm paying plenty of attention to tracks and scat around the place.
Nearly Normal
07-31-2005, 18:16
Sounds like the local hunters need a more liberal season.
pete
sliderule
07-31-2005, 21:49
Sounds like the local hunters need a more liberal season.
peteOr better marksmanship training!!!
TakeABreak
07-31-2005, 21:55
Well, if the population is that plentiful I would kill one myself and have plenty of bear stew this winter or I would invite a hunter or two over that I can trust, to and have them kill a couple. I would just tell them for the privilege of hunting my property, they owe a couple of bear steaks, after the kill.
art to linda
07-31-2005, 23:11
There is a very good bear hunting season here, both bow & gun, but the mild winters over the last 4 years along with the large amounts of wild foods have made for a bigger increase in the population then usuall. The bears are moving into areas where we haven't seen them for decades and into more populated areas.
Tha Wookie
08-01-2005, 00:12
Yes, there is real human overpopulation prolblem. I heard that more and more are moving near even the most populated bear neighborhoods, and some cubs (and a whole lot of passenger pigeons) are missing.
We've been trying selective maulings, because their populations are really out of control. But that seems to make them even more agressive.
Since they first started overharvesting the berries, and then then entire forest, and finally poisoned the streams, we have mirculously had a good berry season somehow. It has been several hundred years.
Apparently, some of them are suprisingly good learners, and have adapted their behaviors to reduce conflicts. Yet there remain roving bands of bear-eating men, who hide in the bushes and are not even bear enough to maul.
When I think of my innocent little cubs and what those humans are capable of, it makes me want another human rug.
Blue Jay
08-01-2005, 07:41
On the AT, bear attacks are at about the same level as shark attacks. Some of you need to find something more logical to be scared about and want to over react by killing something. I suggest ticks.
art to linda
08-01-2005, 15:27
LOL........ Wookie & Blue Jay, your response was interesting to say the least. Hunting has it's place ( and season ) since man has disrupted the natural cycle so badly. Without it the protected areas would be over-run during a boom year which leads to disaster during a bust one. Everything from over grazing to disease, encounters between the wildlife and man with sometimes nasty results, then overreaction on the human part.
I've worked with the DNR taking care of sick & orphaned wildlife, been into the wolf tracking program here, along with the bear taging/study. Where I live, I've watched various wildlife make a come back into areas they haven't been seen in for decades. I enjoy this even as I cuss at some of them for raiding my place. Everything from wild turkeys to bears has been on the upswing, and a lot of this has been due to the help of various local hunting organizations.
It may sound like an oxymoron, but when wildlife research and hunters understand each others goals the wildlife benifits in the long run. How? Through education on wildlife habits and habitat, why we need balance in the ecosystem, and what happens when the balance is out of wack. Since man has been throwing things out of wack for generations it's something that cann't be fixed over night, and since I don't see man vanishing from the face of the earth overnight either, education for the general population is a must if our wildlife is to survive......... especially when it comes to the larger or more dangerous forms of it ( be that a snake or a bear ).
Problems arise when extreme view points from either end jump in........ with out some management there is disaster or the disaster of man thinking that he can manage things the way he wants instead of the way nature intended.
With more city people moving into rural areas people NEED to understand that they can not have a yard in the same way that they did in the city. They are sharing it with wild life that is sometimes big and sometimes dangerous (along with small and dangerous). We try to teach that around here. The local news programs on the bear attack included information on what not to have around yards that would attract bears, how to behave if you came accross a bear and information from bear research facilities.... no scare tactics, but sound information that educated people on knowing how to keep themselves and the wildlife safe.
As long as there are people on this earth there will be times when people and wildlife meet with bad results. Sometimes this is because the wildlife is young and still learning ( just like human young) and sometimes because people have no clue that what they are doing is foolish. The few times that an animal intentionally goes after a human are rare. The best way to keep wildlife safe is for people to know what they share the neighborhood with and how to behave.
On the AT, bear attacks are at about the same level as shark attacks. Some of you need to find something more logical to be scared about and want to over react by killing something. I suggest ticks. Wha!!! shark attacks ?!!!!! wait a sec nobody told me about the shark attacks on the AT! So like when is shark hunter season ? Do I need a "kewl" flourescent orange packcover during Shark hunting season? wait a sec , better yet!where can I get a permit to hunt sharks? Although that would be bad because those poor defenseless sharks are just doing what mother nature intended for them , We should stop hunting sharks. Stop Shark Murder!!!:jump
art to linda
08-01-2005, 17:48
( still laughing ) I do aggree with Blue Jay that of the two, ticks are more dangerous on the AT. It's a matter of "what you don't see will hurt you" along with the simple fact that ticks way out number the bears, so your odds of meeting a tick are a wee bit higher.
As for coming accross a shark on the AT..... please remember that many shark species are protected and that the scientific community is finding that the role they play in our ecosystem is vital. Since it is extreamly difficult to study them in their natural habbitat new information is slowly coming to light that is helping us to remove old myths and understand them better. This information is also pointing out how little we really do know about them.
Soooooo, any hiker bumping into one.......... use your head, doucment sighting with concrete proof, avoide confrontation, and write up everything you remember as soon as you can so that time will not dim the memory. DO NOT exagerate !! This will only lead to a lack of belief from others (wicked grin).
In the mean time: know what could be sharing the space in the woods with you, learn how to recognize animals, plants and other forms of critters by sight and signs, don't mess with something wild that you're not 100% sure of (and even some of those that you are, it's not nice to MESS with mother nature), enjoy the beauty and wonder of the outdoors and have a great hike.
Nearly Normal
08-01-2005, 19:08
Bring back more predators or increase tag numbers but not many want a Puma in the back yard. How about an alligator? Controlled Hunting? Heaven forbid! Ask John Doe, living in a VA suburb these questions. Most will say NO!! to each.
Over populations are as bad or worse than under.
Even the most crazed tree huggers are beginning to understand management methods.
Understanding that you can not preserve what man considers pristine is growth when each man's "idea" of pristine is different.
The world changes, but how much faster does it change with man in charge?
As people began to populate this country each new place was considered "a Damn Wilderness", there to be shaped to each dream. How much of that thinking has changed? Quite a bit, with rabid opinion at each end of the spectrum.
Nature will take care of it where man has no input. Man is the one that mucks it up. Anyone seen a Chestnut grove lately?
Some still haven't figured out you can't prohibit lightening strikes.
The first bear thinning should have included "Smokey".
I expect with a little better land management in the areas with so many forest fires each year, fires would be less, along with improved wildlife habitat. ORRRR.... in these large wild areas, man should have left well enough alone.
Fires have been put out for so long that it has become the only solution. But only for the short term. Thinking in the short term is wrong in large wilderness areas. Most people cannot think in terms longer than there own life. But the damage has been done. How can it be managed back to a hands off level?
Yellowstone Park is a prime example. 3 foot mast accumulations insured the whole forest burned to the gound. "Smokey" made sure of that. Smokey Bear was a mis-understood concept from man. Undisturbed picnics were more important, even though most people never walk farther than they can see the car!
Lands inhabited by man need more management. Hopfully we continue to learn how better as we go.
Pete
It is tough being a steward of the environment and a champion of wild things everywhere. Just the other day I came accross a church youth group outing. This group was getting ready to conduct an overnight hunting expedition for a rare animal called a snipe. I did my best to gather up all the children and sit them down and explain to them that every creature has a right to exist and that what they were about to do was going against every leave no trace principle and would possibly upset the fragile ecological balance of the area if not the world and I asked them how would they feel if they were responsible for wiping out the snipes and denying future generations the priveledge of seeing these in the wild as nature intended. I thought I had made quite an impression because the group had fallen quiet and stopped their smirking looks and were intently regarding me with atonished looks and I thought perhaps I have planted a kernel of awareness in what maybe the future vegan earthfirst peta revolutionarys of America. I again repeated myself for dramatic effect "Well how would you feel then?" A young girl of about 9 stepped forward and said to me "You're a douche!" all the children then began laughing, what made it worse was that then the Adults started laughing too. I had to strap my birkenstocks on and throw my Hemp backpack on right then and there and get away from those, those, little.....republicans! So I decided right then and there that since they would not listen to reason so I had to take action. It was up to me if there was to be any preservation of snipes for my patchouli lovin grandchildren to enjoy. I hiked all night through the rain as fast as I could to get to a ranger station to report them. At two in the morning I pounded on the Ranger's cabin door for what seemed like forever. When he finally answered I breathlessly explained how "they are up there right now murdering snipes!! probably without a licence and , and ... out of season. They were poaching snipes! his strange look turned into a smile and then he started to shake his head and chuckle to himself. I asked him "Aren't you going to do somthing man!" He looked me straight in the eye and he seemed to see right into my soul the very epitome of humanity hating nature loving vegan that I am and said " What are ya some kind of douche!"