A Boy Scout leader was showing the Scouts a bear cave when the black bear suddenly grabbed his foot and pulled him inside then started biting him across his body. “He is bleeding from his neck, his arm and his head,” a dispatcher said on an emergency radio call. He was in the cave for almost 80-minutes from the time of the attack to the rescue.
The boys jumped into action and tried to use snacks, bananas and trail mix to try to lure the bear out. When that didn’t work, they started a fire to smoke the bear out. They then used the fire as a smoke signal for aerial teams in the sky, to help first responders find them.
Bob Considine with the Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement issued to NJ.com: ‘Division of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Officers and the Wildlife Control Unit believe the bear was protecting its hibernation location and they do not, at this point, consider the bear to be a Category I bear.’
Considine said in the statement to the website: ‘Petronino struck the bear twice in the head with a rock hammer. He then pulled his sweatshirt over his head and curled into the fetal position. He yelled to the scouts, who were outside the cave, to leave and go get help.’
Adult North American Black Bear
