A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Three grizzly bear cubs whose mother killed one person and mauled two others in a late-night attack at a Montana campground were malnourished and still in their winter coats.

This image provided by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department on Friday July 30, 2010, shows a captured grizzly sow believed to be responsible for the mauling death of one camper and injuring two others near Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The fate of the bear will be determined after DNA tests confirm whether it was responsible for the attacks. (AP Photo/Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department)

Deb Freele, 58, of London, Ontario, Canada recovers at West Park Hospital in Cody, Wyo. on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Freele was attacked by a bear at Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City, Mont., early Wednesday morning. Freele and her husband, Bill, had spent nearly the previous two weeks camping before the incident. (AP Photo/Cody Enterprise, Scott Salisbury) MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PAPER AND PHOTOGRAPHER

This image provided by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department on Friday July 30, 2010, shows a captured grizzly sow believed to be responsible for the mauling death of one camper and injuring two others near Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The fate of the bear will be determined after DNA tests confirm whether it was responsible for the attacks. (AP Photo/Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department)

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The cubs have arrived at their new home at ZooMontana in Billings. Zoo executive director Jackie Worstell said Sunday the two female cubs and one male cub were underweight, possibly explaining their mother’s unusually aggressive behavior.

“It may be an indication of what happened,” Worstell said. “There’s obvious signs of stress and malnourishment. Maybe (the sow) was desperate.”

The year-old cubs each weighed only between 60 and 70 pounds, versus a normal range of 80 to 130 pounds. Wildlife officials are investigating what caused the cubs to be malnourished. Grizzlies are omnivores and eat everything from berries and ants to fish and elk.

Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was killed and two people were seriously injured when the adult bear ripped into several tents Wednesday at the Soda Creek Campground near Cooke City, an old mining town just outside Yellowstone National Park.

The 300- to 400-pound sow was euthanized Friday after DNA tests linked it to the attacks. Wildlife officials have said she appeared to be healthy, but they intend to further study the body in hopes of explaining her behavior.

Worstell said the cubs will remain in quarantine for at least 30 days to make sure they are disease-free.

The zoo has one other grizzly, a year-old male obtained from Yellowstone National Park that had been seeking food from park visitors. The zoo also has a 10-year-old Eurasian brown bear.

The three cubs aren’t expected to be available for public viewing until fall.

Wildlife officials say the cubs likely participated in the attack on Kammer, and so cannot be released back into the wild having probably learned from their mother’s behavior.

via Grizzly cubs from deadly mauling were malnourished  | ajc.com.

Wardens in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park were setting traps for coyotes Monday after one of the animals repeatedly bit a young woman in the head as she slept outdoors.

The attack occurred at a campground about 30 kilometres from the site where two coyotes mauled 19-year-old Toronto singer Taylor Mitchell last fall – causing wounds that led to her death in a Halifax hospital.

In the latest attack, a 16-year-old girl from Nova Scotia was fast asleep in her sleeping bag outdoors when she awoke at 4 a.m. with a searing pain at the top of her head.

Derek Quann, the park’s resource conservation manager, said that her screaming and swinging arms drove the coyote off after the animal had bitten her twice in the head.

“She was awakened by a sharp pain and something odd going on. She realized she was being bitten by a wild animal,” he said. “All the indications are that it was a single coyote. One coyote was seen by other people leaving the area.”

The girl’s parents were sleeping in a tent about three metres away in the popular camping area on the park’s eastern coast.

The teenager was sent to a nearby medical clinic where her head wounds were stitched and she received rabies shots. She was released early in the morning, and she and her parents departed the campground, said Mr. Quann.

“We’ve had incidents since last fall’s attack that involve coyotes chasing joggers and cyclists,” he said, estimating there were between six to 10 incidents since Ms. Mitchell’s death. He said there’s little indication the animals are starving or deprived of prey. Rather, said Mr. Quann, some animals appeared to have learned not to fear humans.

Park wardens are setting traps in an attempt to kill the coyote involved in the campground attack. It’s part of a strategy to trap and kill coyotes considered aggressive to humans. Mr. Quann estimated about eight to 10 animals have been killed since Ms. Mitchell’s death.

“Coyotes are intelligent animals. They lean and they pass on that learning, and we have to be careful that there isn’t an unacceptable level of aggression … towards humans,” Mr. Quann said.

via Park staff hunt for coyote that bit sleeping teen on head – The Globe and Mail.

(WHAS11) -  Tim Scott, the hiker that survived a black bear attack in Red River Gorge, sits down with WHAS11’s Claudia Coffey for his first television interview.

He allowed WHAS11 to come to his Springfield, Kentucky home where he explained how he escaped from the death grip of a black bear. He says the bear followed him along a trail in Red River Gorge, threw him 4 feet, then started chewing on his legs. Finally another hiker came to his aid.

He tells his account of what he thinking and how he tried to escape exclusively to WHAS11.

Scott survived but has 50 to 60 stitches on both legs. His story of survival in his own words, tonight at 5 and 6 p.m. on WHAS11 News and WHAS11.com.

The bear is still on the loose, and some 40,000 acres of campgrounds and trails are closed until the bear is caught.

via Black Bear attack victim shares his survival story

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – Montana wildlife officials say a Washington man was injured by a black bear that bit through his tent at a primitive campsite in the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens say Rob Holmes of Ellensburg, Wash., was awakened at about 4:30 a.m. Monday when he felt an animal bite his ear lobe. It took 21 stitches to close the wound.

Warden Capt. Jeff Darrah says it appears the bear was drawn into the area by food and other attractants that were left at a nearby camp site.

The U.S. Forest Service campground southwest of St. Regis will be closed while officials try to capture the bear. FWP Regional Supervisor Mack Long says if they can find the bear they’ll euthanize it because it has become habituated to human food.

via Daily Record-News – Ellensburg man survives bear attack in Montana.

Food and garbage abandoned at a campsite in Mineral County likely attracted a black bear that bit a Washington man on the head early Monday, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Rob Holmes, of Ellensburg, Wash., required 21 stitches on his earlobe after the bear bit him through his tent around 4:30 a.m., as he and a friend slept up Little Joe Road just southwest of St. Regis.

Holmes’ injuries were not life-threatening, and he and his friend had left for home by Monday afternoon.

After the bear bit Holmes, the man screamed. He then grabbed a flashlight and tried to follow it before driving to a Missoula hospital.

“It reacted to people, which is good,” said Mack Long, FWP regional supervisor. “But the downside is that once it is habituated, it’s almost impossible to change.”

Holmes kept a clean camp, Long said, but other campers left behind food and other attractants at the U.S. Forest Service campground, which is “primitive” and not a sanctioned campground.

“He did everything right,” said Jeff Darrah, FWP warden captain in Missoula.

The FWP is currently attempting to track down the bear, which will be euthanized once it’s found. In the meantime, the camping area is closed until further notice.

FWP officials said the radius and patterns of the bite marks on Holmes and in his tent were identical to those found on cans of food and other items at the nearby abandoned campsite.

It is unknown how long that campsite had been abandoned, but the bear likely had visited the site for at least a couple of nights, said Long. It likely was a temporary campsite for transients, he said.

Long put all blame on the campers who abandoned their site and left food and other items behind. He said “attack” is not the correct word for the incident, which will unfortunately lead to a dead bear.

Long said he believes it is the only reported case of a human injury caused by a bear in western Montana this year.

The message is clear, he stressed: Don’t leave food and other attractants open at a campsite, and never leave food behind.

via Black bear bites through tent, into sleeping man’s ear near St. Regis.

This is a story from 2005.

DESTIN, FL – A 14-year-old Louisiana girl was killed Saturday in a shark attack in Destin near a Walton County campground on the Gulf of Mexico. The girl's identity was not released. But Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank says the girl was from Gonzales, Louisiana.

Shank says two 14-year-old girls were swimming about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water. Shank says, “One of the swimmers was bitten. It was lower portions of her body.” Both girls swam to the shore where the girl that was attacked was treated. Shank says the girl was transported to the Sacred Heart Hospital in South Walton where she was pronounced dead.

About 21 miles of area beaches were closed to swimmers immediately afterward. They will be closed for the rest of the day.The attack happened near Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park in Walton County. Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment. Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa, said this is the time of year when area hotels are booked to capacity.

Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 31.

via Destin Shark Attack Kills 14-Year-Old Girl.