Archaeologist-PA

Experts: Errors brought on encounter with bear

By Christian Berg
Of The Morning Call

There are rules for keeping safe in bear country, and the campers involved in Saturday's harrowing black bear encounter at Hickory Run State Park broke just about all of them.

''They did everything wrong,'' said Fred Merluzzi, the Pennsylvania Game Commission's wildlife conservation officer for Carbon County. ''They came to bear country, and they came to bear country ill-prepared.''

Kathleen Feeney, 21, Brian Scollon, 19, and Robert Brennan, 21, all of Philadelphia, saw a black bear at their campsite about 7:30 p.m. Saturday and took off running through the woods.

The bear followed, captured Feeney, tore off her clothes and covered her with brush — a tactic sometimes used to hide food stashes. Although the bear eventually left, Feeney suffered some nasty scratches on her back, a possible bite to the head and a puncture wound in one leg.

Such incidents are extremely rare in Pennsylvania. A black bear has never killed anyone in the state, and fewer than 30 bear attacks have occurred in 30 years, commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said. It was the first such incident at Hickory Run, park officials said.

The last bear attack in Pennsylvania is believed to have occurred in June in Susquehanna County, in which a 43-year-old woman suffered multiple bite and claw wounds after being attacked by a bear in her back yard. In that case, commission officials believe the bear might have had a nearby cub it was trying to protect, which Feaser said is typical of bear encounters in which serious injuries occur.

Saturday's incident at Hickory Run did not result in severe injuries, but it serves as a frightening reminder of what can happen when humans and bears clash.

Commission officials say one of the campers' biggest mistakes was running away, which likely triggered the bear's predatory instinct to chase prey.

''They had no idea what to do,'' said Merluzzi, who is conducting the agency's investigation into the incident. ''The way I am looking at it, their response…is the direct cause of what happened.''

Instead of running, those who encounter bears should raise their arms above their heads, make themselves appear as big as possible and slowly back away from the area.

''Don't turn your back,'' said Mark Ternent, the commission's black bear biologist. ''Always keep your eye on the bear so you know what's going on.''

While it's a good idea to keep an eye on the bear, avoid making direct eye contact, which the bear may interpret as a challenge.

Running from the bear was one in a series of poor decisions made by the trio, Merluzzi said. Feeney, Scollon and Brennan arrived at Hickory Run about 2 p.m. Saturday and set up their tent in a no-camping area near Hawk Falls, a popular spot off Route 534 near Albrightsville. Merluzzi said the area is not routinely patrolled by park rangers and has a well-worn bear trail through the mountain laurel.

''It's a very apparent trail,'' he said. ''Why do you think they don't allow camping down there?''

The trio said they were returning from fishing in Mud Run, a nearby trout stream, when the encounter began. Feeney arrived at the campsite first, saw the bear and raced back toward Scollon and Brennan, with the bear in hot pursuit.

Merluzzi said the bear probably wouldn't have been there in the first place if the three hadn't left food out in the open. ''It appears they had some Spaghettios earlier, and that was not covered,'' he said. ''Their actions drew the bear into that area.''

Those hiking or camping in bear country should store food in the trunk of their cars or hang it high in a tree where a bear can't reach it. Food should never be left in the open or stored in sleeping areas.

Officials said the campers also made a mistake in not staying together. After running from the bear and wading across Mud Run, Brennan tried to get help by climbing a steep embankment to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Feeney and Scollon, meanwhile, hid behind a large tree.

''Stay together,'' Ternent said. ''You are more intimidating as a unit than you are as three independent people.''

Merluzzi said Feeney and Scollon also crawled around in the thick laurel that dominates the area. ''At that point, they made themselves smaller than the bear,'' he said. ''A bear's prey items, which include deer, are smaller and are on all fours.''

A final mistake came after the bear managed to get hold of Feeney and, at Scollon's urging, she played dead. Ternent said playing dead is a survival tactic recommended for grizzly bear attacks, but not for black bears.

''If the bear is being motivated by predation, then playing dead just makes the job easier for the bear,'' Ternent said. ''You are better off trying to fight back.''

Feeney said she isn't certain how much time elapsed before the bear left, but Ternent doubts the incident lasted for hours as Feeney and Scollon described.

''They couldn't run for four hours, and you certainly couldn't lay there on the ground face down for 31/2 hours,'' Ternent said. ''There must have been a big chunk of time when the bear was gone but they hadn't gotten help yet.''

Scollon was angry about the comments from the Game Commission.

''If I was an inexperienced camper I wouldn't be alive right now,'' he said Wednesday. ''If [Feeney] was inexperienced, she wouldn't be alive right now.''

Although no motorists stopped for Brennan along the Turnpike, one called state police, who responded to the scene and contacted park rangers at Hickory Run. It was about 11:30 p.m. before rangers found Feeney and Scollon.

Feeney was treated for injuries at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township and released Sunday. Merluzzi said doctors told him the injury on Feeney's head was an abrasion, not a bite, and that the puncture wound on her leg could have been caused by a stick rather than the bear's teeth.

''I'm not saying it didn't [bite her],'' he said. ''I'm going by what the doctor told me.''

Merluzzi's examination of the scene revealed a large quantity of beer at the campsite and bear tracks that indicate the animal walked, not ran, from the area.

''I'm sure they believe what they said,'' Merluzzi said. ''However, exaggeration does get into this, and having the beejeebers scared out of them didn't help. You had adrenaline in the mix here. You had beer in the mix here. A minute probably seemed like two hours to them.''

Although the campers described the bear as huge, Merluzzi said its tracks indicate it was a yearling that weighed no more than 150-175 pounds.

The campers told authorities the bear did not have an ear tag indicating it had been previously captured by the commission, and Merluzzi said he isn't aware of any other recent bear complaints in the area. Unless similar encounters occur in the coming weeks, Merluzzi has no plans to trap the bear or otherwise hunt it down.

''I think that this was isolated, and I don't feel we have a rogue bear or anything like that,'' Merluzzi said.

As for the campers, Hickory Run Park Manager Dave Madl said officials still haven't decided whether to cite them for camping in a restricted area or other violations.

''Everybody is aware they were camped in an area that isn't open to camping,'' Madl said. ''We have issued citations in the past for people camping illegally, and we certainly have the authority to do that.''

Madl said no operational changes are planned at Hickory Run as a result of the bear encounter. However, he said workers may post additional bear warning signs and put more emphasis on educating visitors about common-sense ways to avoid them.

''We don't want to overly alarm folks,'' Madl said. ''You can have a safe and enjoyable trip here just by taking some precautions and knowing what to do if you do come across a bear.''

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I've had close encounters with black bears on at least 4 or 5 occasions. One of these included physically bumping into a large mother bear (whose cubs were in the yard nearby). On another occasion, a co-worker and I were unceremoniously chased from what must have been a bear's territory while out on an archaeological survey. It was a low-speed, "OJ Simpson" kind of chase. We walked away as quickly as we could, without actually breaking into a run. The bear followed in hot pursuit, and was so close behind us that we could hear it breathing. It followed us for at least 1/2 mile until we came out to a busy road. I wonder what may have happened if we did panic and starting running. Sometimes a little common sense can go a long way for those who choose to spend their time in the great outdoors...