Andy says there were cars parked at the Cerro Grande parking lot, in spite of the bear warning. Hopefully people make enough noise to warn the mother to keep the cubs and herself away and safe. And that no one brings their dog!
We did have a bear attack up on the ski hill Friday evening. A couple went up to sit on the deck of the lodge to watch the new comet, NEOWISE.
Marc Bailey
They were enjoying the view when a bear approached, chased the woman, and attacked her down in the parking lot. The woman was taken to our local hospital, then airlifted to Albuquerque. Initial reports say she had a collapsed lung in addition to broken bones, bite marks, and scratches.
When they got there, officials found a bear eating trash nearby and killed it. The powers that be will compare samples of DNA from the bear with samples taken from the woman to make sure that bear was the culprit.
Just another example of why people in bear country should keep trash in bearproof containers.
July 19, 2020
Sad all the way around!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes!
heartbreaking. for the bear and the woman.
but especially the bear. he lost his life because of people and their TRASH.
Yes. 🙁
Very sad situation and I imagine a traumatic experience for the woman
It was supposed to be a nice peaceful evening seeing the comet. Who would have guessed? 🙁
So sad. We can only echo what others have said. Sad for the woman who was hurt and sad that the bear had to be killed. Hopefully the mother bear and cubs will stay far away.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Yes, fingers crossed. 🙁
Sad in so many ways and on so many levels and I try to understand why the bear had to be destroyed, but it’s not always easy, and it’s not always fair.
That’s why they put so many signs up, for the sake of the bears as well as the people.
yes agree with everyone else, so sad all round…
Yes. 🙁
Good grief!! It must have needed to get past her to get to the tasty trash. How awful! Let me know if you find out how she is doing, and if she will have any lasting damage. We have lots of bears around, but fortunately hardly any attacks.
But she tried to run away and the bear chased and attacked her. They keep saying bears are unpredictable.
That’s too bad it had to be put down because of human neglect for nature….hope it wasn’t a mama bear with now orphaned cubs.
I’m guessing it wasn’t because I don’t think a mother bear would travel that far away from the cubs to attack a human. But I certainly don’t know.
Sad for the bear and sad for the woman! I’m sorry for the bear and I hope the woman will be okay. And I hope they didn’t kill the wrong bear
The bear eating trash would have been in trouble anyway. As I understand it, he would have been relocated. That’s not safe because bears are territorial so other bears would be defending their territory.
It’s all just heartbreaking
🙁
Yes. 🙁
Yikes! But maybe now people will be more careful. I hope the lady comes away from her tragic event totally healed.
Me too!
I wonder why the bear started chasing the woman, when she hadn’t done anything to provoke it. And how presumptious of the officials, just assuming that was the same bear and shooting it.
You should never run from a bear because they have a prey instinct and can run faster than humans can. https://geology.com/stories/13/bear-attacks/. We have black bears, no grizzlies.
No, humans shouldn’t have left trash out for the bear to eat. It was their fault because once bears get used to human food they lose their fear of humans and associate humans with food. In order to survive bears need to pack in enough calories to last them through the winter hibernation.
I wonder if the bear was old and very easily irritated? So many things to wonder. Was it coming for her before she ran? I, too hope they killed the right bear.
They were sitting on the deck when the bear came within about a foot of them. If it was coming for her running was still the worst thing to do. If it was attacking you need to defend yourself the best you can, but never turn your back. If you don’t have pepper spray or some other defense then try your best to punch it in the nose. If it wasn’t attacking:
https://geology.com/stories/13/bear-attacks/