Wyoming Game & Fish and U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials are investigating the report of a bear-caused human injury west of Cody.

The report indicated that a hunter was injured early Thursday afternoon by a grizzly bear while hunting near Jim Mountain. The hunter received injuries to his right arm.

Initial information indicates the bear was shot and killed by the hunter after the attack occurred. The hunter was hunting with a partner, who was not in the immediate vicinity of the encounter.

After walking out three miles to the trailhead and driving himself to Cody, the hunter was admitted to West Park Hospital and remained in the hospital overnight for observation.

via Cody Enterprise: Home – Man allegedly kills griz after attack.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) ― The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says an elk hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear after the animal bit his arm.

The bear attack happened Thursday afternoon in the Jim Mountain area midway between Cody and Yellowstone National Park.

The man was able to hike out three miles and drive himself to the hospital in Cody where he remained overnight.

Game and Fish spokesman Dennie Hammer says the injuries weren’t severe. He says Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating and the identity of the out-of-state man isn’t being released.

At least 38 grizzly bears have died in the Yellowstone ecosystem this year. Grizzlies are protected as a threatened species and the mortality count can affect their status under the Endangered Species Act.

via NW Wyo. Hunter Kills Griz That Bit His Arm – cbs4denver.com.

SEATTLE — A man mauled by a black bear near his vacation cabin in central Washington says he felt he had to stand and fight the animal to survive the attack.

Wearing a hospital gown and bandages, Bellevue City Councilman John Chelminiak (CHEHL’-mihn-ak), 57, talked to reporters Wednesday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he has had five surgeries since the Sept. 17 mauling at Lake Wenatchee.

Chelminiak says he wouldn’t let the bear keep him on the ground and he kept forcing his way back up as the bear bit and clawed him.

“I vividly remember being bitten on the head and the sound that makes as her teeth were going into my head and running along the skull,” he said. “It was just a horrendous fight.”

He made it back to his driveway where his wife found him and their daughter called 911.

When Chelminiak was flown to the hospital in Seattle UW Medicine plastic surgeon Matthew Klein said parts of his face and scalp were hanging off. Doctors had to remove his left eye.

Wildlife agents tracked and killed the black bear a few hours after the attack. They said it was an older female, thin at 148 pounds and in poor condition.

“I do remember her hitting me in my left eye and how that felt. There was just a bright flash of light,” Chelminiak said.

Except for the loss of vision, Dr. Klein said Chelminiak should make a full recovery after two or three more surgeries. He praised Chelminiak for his spirit, will and determination to recover.

Chelminiak, his wife, Lynn Semler, and 11-year-old daughter had gone to their vacation cabin that Friday. Chelminiak says he had taken their dogs for a walk when he heard a rustle in the brush and the sound of the bear rushing him.

They wrestled for a time with the bear clawing him. During a break, he was able to reach his driveway where the bear pounced again on the dogs. He was able to pull them free and they went back to the cabin.

The bruin attacked again, and at one point, when the bear bit Chelminiak in the abdomen, he was able to deliver his best blow with a knee.

At some point the bear stopped. “I had no idea why,” Chelminiak said.

Soaked in blood he tried to move up the driveway and kept yelling, “Bear! Bear! Call 911!”

Chelminiak says he contemplated whether he would make it or not and decided to keep yelling.

His wife didn’t recognized her husband’s voice at first and thought it was a neighbor. When she went outside and found Chelminiak, “I was pretty frightened because he didn’t look like himself,” Semler said at the news conference.

Chelminiak thanked everyone who helped him, especially the medical staff at Harborview.

“With the extent of the injury, it’s a miracle I made it through,” he said.

Chelminiak was elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2003. He previously worked for both the King and Snohomish county councils and once worked as a reporter and manager at KIRO radio in Seattle.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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via The Associated Press: Wash. state bear-mauling victim describes attack.

FRENCHTOWN, Mont. – A Montana woman fended off a charging bear on her back porch early Thursday by using the first weapon she could reach — a piece of zucchini.

The woman was stirred after midnight by a tussle in the backyard of her home near Frenchtown, Missoula County Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Maricelli said. She went to investigate and found a 200-pound black bear attacking one of her two dogs, a 12-year-old collie.

The woman stood at her back door and screamed to divert the bear’s attention from the dog. She told police the bear then charged her.

“The bear growled and was very aggressive and tried to come inside of her back door,” Maricelli said. “She was able to stop the pursuing bear by improvising.”

The bear took a swipe at her with its paw and tore her jeans. The woman jumped back and grasped the nearest object on her kitchen counter inside the doorway — a 12-inch-long zucchini she had harvested earlier from her garden.

She flung the zucchini at the bear from a distance she estimated to be 3 feet. The vegetable bopped the bruin on the top of its head and the animal fled, Maricelli said.

State wildlife officials were searching for the bear on Thursday. Radio station KGVO in Missoula first reported on the attack.

The woman received only minor scratches that did not require medical attention, though she was going to get a tetanus shot on Thursday as a precaution, Maricelli said. Police did not release her name.

The woman also planned to take her collie to the veterinarian. The dog didn’t appear to have any bite wounds, but was a bit shaky on Thursday, Maricelli said.

“I don’t know if it tried to bite him, but it rolled him around a little,” he said.

via Montana woman fends off bear attack with zucchini | Standard-Examiner – Ogden, Layton, Brigham, Weber, Davis, Sports, Entertainment, Dining, Utah Jazz, Real Salt Lake, Ogden Raptors, Top of Utah News.

John Chelminiak, 57, a city council employee in Bellevue, Washington, was mauled by the black bear at the end of the driveway to his holiday home in Lake Wenatchee, Washington.

He had been out walking his dogs when the bear struck.

His wife Lynn Semler called 911 and said: “My husband has been attacked by a bear. He’s at the bottom of the driveway.”

In the background Mr Chelminiak could be heard saying he was dying.

He suffered wounds to the upper part of his body, and underwent surgery in Seattle where he is recovering.

His wife, who ran to help him, said: “I thought at first it was a black dog, and then just a couple strides down I realised it was a bear and John had been yelling bear, bear.”

The female black bear, thought to be about 10-years-old and without cubs, was killed a few hours after the attack.

via Man cried ‘I’m dying’ during black bear attack – Telegraph.

BOZEMAN – Wildlife officials say a bow hunter is recovering after a grizzly bear mauled him in the southern Gravelly Mountains near Ennis, just 3 1/2 miles from where a similar attack happened less than a week earlier.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks says 49-year-old Kim Wunderlich of Kalispell was hunting with a partner in the Cascade Creek area Friday when the female grizzly with two cubs knocked him down and bit him once on the inner thigh. The hunter was taken to a hospital in Dillon and has since been released.

Wunderlich, who did not return a phone call from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle seeking comment, was attacked in the same area that Matt Menge of Bozeman was mauled Sept. 12. The attack left Menge with a broken right forearm and large cuts to the head.

FWP game warden Sam Sheppard said there is nothing to suggest that both attacks involved the same bear.

He said bears are probably attracted to the area because elk hunters have been leaving behind gut piles.

“It’s kind of a little cycle,” he said. “You have a fair number of elk, get some elk hunters, elk hunters have some success and put some carcasses on the ground, with carcasses on the ground, you have bears.”

FWP has posted signs in the area warning hunters of the danger of traveling in bear country and recommends they carry pepper spray.

Sheppard said Monday there are no plans to close the area to hunting because it is such a broad expanse of land.

“We’d potentially have to close 20 sections,” he said. “There are bears, grizzly bears, in southwest Montana and we just have to figure out how to safely hunt in those areas where those things overlap.”

via Grizzly bear attacks bowhunter in Gravelly Mountains.

SEATTLE – The wife of a Bellevue city councilman who was mauled by a black bear near Lake Wenatchee Friday night is now talking about the attack.

John Chelminiak, 58, is recovering from puncture wounds and injuries to his head and upper body at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Chelminiak was spending the weekend with his wife at their vacation home. He was walking their dogs when he was attacked by the bear.

Chelminiak was able to yell a warning to his wife.

“I was in the house, again we were just finishing unpacking,” said Cheminiak’s wife, Lynn Semler. “I heard somebody calling out, and it didn’t sound like John.”

“I went out through the garage with my flashlight and as I opened the garage door what I thought was a large, um, dog lept in front of me,” recalled Semler.

That large dog was actually the bear.

While Semler comforted her husband, she called 911.

“I explained to them that my husband had been attacked by a bear.”

She warned her daughter to stay inside and lock the door. The bear was still just a few hundred yards away.

“It was pacing back and forth on the road. And I just kept my flashlight on that bear,” she said.

She stayed with her husband until paramedics arrived.

Agents later shot and killed the bear, which was described as old, very thin and in poor condition. They don’t know why the bear attacked Chelminiak, the bear did not have any cubs.

Chelminiak was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His father, his sister, and his wife haven’t left his side.

On Sunday Chelminiak was in serious but stable condition and is doing well. He had a special message for his wife.

“(He said) I love you. He wished me a happy anniversary this afternoon. So he remembered today was our 13th anniversary,” said Semler. “He’s made great progress. He just looks good to me. I love him!”

via Wife describes the bear attack on her husband | KING5.com | Seattle Area Local News.

A 57-year-old British Columbia man, who survived a bear attack near Port Alberni, was in good spirits on Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Jay Vinden was saved when his 47-year-old friend fought off the attack at a secluded campsite near Sproat Lake on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“He has got some puncture wounds to his back and his side and his knee and he will be having some plastic surgery to his scalp,” said Anya Nimmon, spokeswoman for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. “But otherwise his spirits are high and he’s in stable condition.”

RCMP Sgt. Kevin Murray said the two men were camping in an area known as Taylor Flats at the west end of Sproat Lake.

“The bear initially attacked the 57-year-old male who was sleeping in a lean-to type shelter,” said Murray. “His 47-year-old friend, sleeping nearby in a tent, was alerted to the attack and was able to fight off the bear.”

Both men, from the Victoria-area community of Sooke, suffered extensive claw wounds in the attack.

Murray said both men had been camping in the area for a number of days and had encountered the 68-kilogram bear around their camp on the first day.

RCMP and B.C. conservation officers are attempting to find the bear to determine if there is any reason it might attack again.

“Police and conservation want to remind people visiting the back country to be extra vigilant in protecting themselves and their camp from wildlife encounters,” said Murray.

via Camper recovering after B.C. bear attack.

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio — The Cuyahoga County coroner’s office determined that a Lorain County man killed in a bear attack died of multiple wounds.

Spokesman Powell Caesar said today there were no surprises in the autopsy of Brent Kandra.

He said the man suffered numerous sharp wounds and blunt injuries, “what would be expected in a bear attack.”

The black bear that mauled Kandra has been euthanized.

Sam Mazzola, the owner of the bear, had said he would leave the bear’s fate up to the Kandra family; they opted to have the animal killed.

Brent Kandra, 24, had played and worked with Mazzola’s animals about six years.

One of Mazzola’s nine bears attacked Kandra Thursday evening when Kandra was feeding it.

Black bears are considered indigenous to Ohio, but there are nearly as many of them in private ownership as in the wild. State officials Friday said there are 24 black bears registered to private owners in Northeast Ohio — nine of them belonging to Mazzola — and 20 more in other regions of the state.

State officials estimate Ohio’s wild black bear population numbers between 60 and 80. Most live in the southeastern part of the state where it’s less populated and more forested.

via Man killed by bear suffered multiple wounds | cleveland.com.

John Chelminiak, the Bellevue City Council member mauled Sept. 17 by a black bear, has lost an eye as a result of the attack. However, he is making progress recovering from his injuries, city of Bellevue officials said in a release Thursday.

John Chelminiak

Lost eye after a bear attacked him Sept. 17

Chelminiak was walking his dogs outside his family’s vacation home at Lake Wenatchee when the bear attacked. His wife, Lynn Semler, scared the bear away and called 911.

The damage to his left eye was so severe that it had to be removed, but he is recovering sight in his right eye and he has been able to read, officials said. He is expected to regain his sight for all normal activities, including reading, writing and activities like skiing.

Chelminiak is walking around his hospital room at Harborview Medical Center and talking with his family. His doctors are monitoring his progress and he is likely to undergo further surgeries, the city said.

Chelminiak had ophthalmology surgery Sept. 24, and on Monday had surgery for major wounds on the left side of his body. On Wednesday, Chelminiak met with state Department of Fish and Wildlife agent Rich Beausoleil, who tracked down the bear that attacked him. The 10-year-old female bear was shot and killed by agents about three hours after the attack.

Chelminiak posted an update on his Facebook page Thursday that said, “Just a quick update on my progress. Felling (sic) very good this afternoon. My dad and I took a walk outside late this morning. If he had brought the clubs we might have snuck away for a quick nine holes.”

Fellow Bellevue council member Grant Degginger said Chelminiak has come a long way in a short period of time.

“He sounds really good,” Degginger said. “He is not missing a beat, listening to the (council) meetings and wondering what the heck’s going on.”

via Bear attack costs victim his left eye | Local news, sports, weather, blogs, opinion, crime, obituaries, business, directory, marketplace, education, high school, family, shopping, arts, entertainment, movies, books, cooking, auto, real estate, jobs, classifieds, photos, videos, comics, contests, and mountain pass webcams from Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan, Leavenworth, Waterville, Cashmere, Quincy, Entiat, North Central Washington newspaper.