Officials Confirm They Got Killer Bear

Bear Dragged 11-Year-Old Boy From His Family's Tent In Utah

(CBS/AP) 
The boy's body was found about 400 yards away from the campsite, said Lt. Dennis Harris of the Utah County sheriff's office.

"Truly a tragic event, said Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "Events of this type are extremely rare in Utah."

He declined to say how the confirmation of the bear's identity was made "out of respect for the family."

Sam Ives would have been a sixth-grader at Valley View Elementary School in Pleasant Grove, Utah, this fall.

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.

All over the West, drought and a resulting lack of food have brought bears into areas they don't usually visit, reports CBS News Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. Not just campsites, but suburbs.

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.

"When it's hot and dry like this, bears are short on food and they go looking for food. And sometimes they create problems," Karpowitz said.

Black bears, which are found in 27 states, are "generally less aggressive than other bears and don't prey on humans," said Stewart Breck, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The typical human-bear conflicts involve bears breaking into homes or cars.

"But it's not breaking into a tent and killing," Breck said.

[ecuadoriana]

"What do you think that killing the bear will do? Send a message to the other bears that killing a child is wrong???" Posted by sjw1253 at 03:12 PM : Jun 19, 2007

Thank you, sjw1253.

We have gotten so out of whack with the earth that we're all now whacked.

The amount of insanity in the world is in direct proportion to how far we've removed ourselves from the earth. We don't live with it or in it- we try to dominate, control & destroy it. We are like the spoiled kid who gets a new bicycle as a gift & then promptly leaves it in the driveway to get rained on & run over. Then we act like we deserve to get another.

According to the god/bible people this precious gift of the earth (which includes ALL of its inhabitants not only humans) was created by god & we were created of it (the whole Adam from clay story). So if that's the case why is everyone so quick to destroy god's gift?! Why do we treat the source of our creation with such distain, hatred & disrespect? We convince ourselves to live in fear & to hate our life source- which leads directly to hating ourselves.

If everyone wants to start thumping on the bible they should first look at how they treat the earth & ask "What if god decided to take it all back because I didn't take care of it?"

I'm a wiccan/vegan freak & humble for it.

PS to bogusbones: your name says it all.

[incog-nito]

Many, many people have worked long and hard over centuries to give civilization the technological advances that allow us to get our food from the nearby market, and to sleep in reasonably fortified homes. I like it that way.

[agnim]

Did the bear ate any of the boy?

[my2centss]

Snakes and bears? No comparison, besides I bet they checked their tent for snakes, not too much checking you can do for bears.

[decentiq]

Thank you THGDRIVER, I was starting to wonder if I was the only one with any common since. I like to golf and some of the courses I play at have warning signs about rattlesnakes. I don't just ignore them because I am at a golf course and the snake should know not to bite me. I just stay out of that area and if I do go into that area, golf course or not, I know I might get bit. By the way I feel bad for the kid and his family, I just wish it did not happen.

[thgdriver]

jn122736 asks what do I think?

I think that big rock thats heading our way from outer space will fix us all sooner or later. The earth was better off without us if you think about it. It will be better without us again one of these days. They say it is not a matter of if an asteroid hits the earth it's a matter of when. Maybe the bears will be in their caves and inherit the planet, who knows.

[thgdriver]

DecentIQ

I agree 100% with your post, seems the frontiersmen knew this and armed themselves accordingly. I am sorry the youngster was killed, the adults should be charged with child endangerment at the least.

[decentiq]

Most poeple know where the areas are that are considered to be wild without a line being drawn. If this family was led to believe that they were safe because they were in a park (even though there are warning signs everywhere about bears), but they were not, then maybe the park rangers or whomever runs that park needs to explain why and how this could have happend. Either way, I don't think bears care if we call it a park or the wild, it is still an area with oppurtunity for them to find food and they will continue to hunt in the park or in the wild until they find it.

[my2centss]

Who goes camping without a flashlight and a gun? Might have turned out a bit better.

[hoffmom]

Once upon a time it was ALL wilderness and the animals were ALL untamed. Unless you propose painting a big red line on the ground demarcating the border between "civilization" and "wilderness" and saying that anyone who crosses it, human or animal, "gets what's coming to them," I'm not sure what your solution is.

Once a bear goes rogue, it continues to be a threat. Most likely, the bear ended up with the tendency because of contact with humans; after all, this was a campground, not a vast, untamed wilderness. He would've continued to come back, and even if they went so far as to close the park, he would've gone looking for another one- that's what rogue bears do. Geez, would someone please watch the Discovery Channel? Like I said, some people here need to actually get in touch with the nature they profess to love so much.

[jn122736]

Interesting comments:

Most portray the bear as the victim and the child and/or his parents as the culprits.
Most of these complain that the campers were intruding into the bear%u2019s domain.

The world is filled with hypocrisy.

We would have to kill off at least 250 million people to restore the %u201Cdomain%u201D of all the animals that %u201Cowned%u201D the country before the white man came.

One could just as well say that everyone living in the plains states should pickup and leave so the millions of buffalo (American Bison) who %u201Cown%u201D that land can return.

If wild animals aren%u2019t controlled,-- and that includes killing individual Bears, mountain lions, et al that are proven man killers,--- they would definitely intrude into new hunting grounds (suburbs and towns).

If such a decision to reduce the human population in America by 250 million were to be reached by the %u201Cpowers that be%u201D I wonder how many of these posters would volunteer to be among the vanquished? Or would they quickly change their minds and say, kill the animals (bears)?
What do you think?

[decentiq]

This was a wild bear living in an area of untamed animals. If you go into an environment where they live you are taking a risk because they do not know right from wrong. If you think that you should be able to go into the wild and not be bothered by wild animals because you are dominant to them, then I guess you should just kill them all, instead of just that one.

[hoffmom]

I keep hearing that the wild outdoors is "their" (meaning the animals') territory, and that when "we" wander from "our" territory we're "asking for it." WHAT? Last I knew, we ALL came from the wilderness, and "civilization" arose from it. When mankind originally dwelt in the wilderness,they had no qualms with removing a man-eater from their locale.
Do those "on the bear's side" also think that we should stay in the cities? What a great way to teach our children the value of nature!
We can and should respect the creatures with whom we share our planet. But I find it perfectly idiotic to assert that the humans were "invaders," and didn't have a "right" to be there. As far as I know, no cities sprang up on their own as the "natural" habitat for humans. The wilderness is as much OUR territory as it is THEIRS and maybe we'd respect it more if we felt it belonged to us all. And since does, every creature is entitled to protect itself.
But that's NOT what the bear was doing when it dragged a boy from his tent and mauled him to death in the night. That is a rogue bear who will repeat the offense, EVEN IF RELOCATED. It's stupid to say "he was just doing what was natural." No he wasn't. Wild bears naturally avoid people. This bear was behaving unnaturally, and would've continued to do so. Some of these people who feel so passionately for the life of the bear really need to get in touch with nature themselves.

[davegf]

"DaveGF,
Sounds like the best part of you dripped down your mommas backside
Posted by mitch0927 at 05:42 PM : Jun 19, 2007"

Did jesus talk like that? Don't think so. Typical bible thumping hypocrite. Push them a little and their true personality shows itself.

[drivelphobe]

Thanks mitch0927'

Sometimes I get a little wound up. I am more relaxed now.

[decentiq]

It is sad that a child was killed by a bear due to his family deciding to pitch a tent in bear country, but don't kill the bear. This bear does not know proper camping etiquette. He is just living in his habitat doing what he does to survive, and we blame him? Why did this family bring their child to sleep amongst bears? If the adults love taking risks that is up to them, but don't involve the child.

[kiddbilly]

rushlimpdrug
you've missed your calling.it's refreshing to find people still have a sense of humor.good for you!! keep up the good work

[rushlimpdrug]

ok about the bear if i'm not mistaken once a bear taste human flesh they crave it again and again. . . .
Posted by kiddbilly

That is possible. Inconclusive studies show it may also be true with the human species. Once they taste chicken they crave it again and again going so far as to eat it before it becomes a chicken (egg).

[kiddbilly]

ok about the bear if i'm not mistaken once a bear taste human flesh they crave it again and again. it's possible they will kill again. on the other hand if it's a know situation that the bears are having trouble finding food. why not feed them at a safe location away from campers

[mitch0927]

DaveGF,
Sounds like the best part of you dripped down your mommas backside