Bear Mauls Man at Alaska Campground After Giving Animal Barbeque
A black bear mauled a man at a campground in Alaska after he reportedly gave the animal cooked meat that had been prepared at a barbeque, the state Department of Fish and Game said.
Spokesman Ken Marsh said the bear was lured into the attack on Saturday when a man near Eklutna Lake Campground, which is north of Anchorage, after the man fed it meat from a church barbecue, The Anchorage Daily News reported.
The man could face several charges including illegally feeding wildlife, according to Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.
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Ipsen stated that the man had been drinking and went for a bike ride and took some of the cooked meat with him. The man came across the bear and threw it a piece of meat. He then offered the bear another piece and at that moment it is thought the bear attacked.
"That's when it kind of went ballistic," Ipsen said.
Park rangers later found the bloodied man washing himself off at the campground, Marsh said.
"He wasn't terribly coherent," he said. "He was unsure of where the attack actually happened."
The man was treated for punctures wounds and scratches at an Anchorage hospital. His name was not immediately released.
Authorities are still trying to sort out what happened, Ipsen said. There were no witnesses to the attack and the man struggled to convey what had happened when a trooper spoke with him at the hospital, she said.
A state biologist sent to the scene couldn't find the bear, Marsh explained, who added that there was no indication the animal will attack others.
"The bear was pretty much goaded into this," Marsh said.
Wildlife specialists have previously warned not to provide food to wild animals.
