WEST MILFORD — The female bear hunted by New Jersey wildlife officials since it attacked a West Milford man and his dog on June 24 in Norvin Green State Park was trapped and euthanized Thursday night near where the incident occurred, the state Department of Environmental Protection said today.

The 188-pound, female bruin was caught at about 4:45 p.m. near a West Milford home where it had been causing new problems, said DEP spokesman Lawrence Ragonese, explaining the bear had just ripped into a chicken coop at the house before it ran into the baited, culvert trap set up by wildlife officials days earlier. The bear had three, six-month-old cubs which authorities said should be able to survive on their own.

“We had two previous aggressive incidents with this bear, and when it was caught it was being aggressive again. It was euthanized,” Ragonese said, adding that ten aggressive bears have been put down by wildlife officials and police this year.

The hiker was knocked down, but not seriously injured in the June 24 incident, and his dog is recovering from its wounds. The attack prompted a portion of the park to be closed and the postponement of a local fireworks display as authorities searched for the bruin.

via Bear who attacked West Milford hiker is captured, euthanized | NJ.com.

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.

TAMPA — A 7-foot alligator was caught in the parking lot of a Gulf coast middle school.

Authorities say the alligator turned up in front of Stewart Middle School's cafeteria early Monday.

Hillsborough County school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the alligator was found before students arrived and they were kept away. No one was hurt.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer caught the alligator in a back parking lot. It has been turned over to trapper to be euthanized.

via 7-foot gator caught outside Florida middle school.

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Sad story all around. That picture makes it sadder, they don’t look like dangerous dogs.

PIT BULLS EUTHANIZED AFTER ATTACK ON WOMAN

Story Published: May 7, 2009 at 5:50 PM EDT

Story Updated: May 8, 2009 at 9:49 AM EDT 

Three pit bull dogs were euthanized Tuesday, as their owner complied with a judge’s order the dogs be killed.

The three – including a puppy – attacked a woman in Theresa in April.

The owner of the dogs wanted to fight the judge’s order, but didn’t have the money to do so.

Linda Wilcox was attacked as she was out walking.

“All of a sudden, they were on top of me,” Wilcox told 7 News at the time.

She was knocked down, hitting her head. And she got at least one bite.

“I just lay there screaming.”

Wilcox struggled with reporting the incident, she said, but ultimately decided she had to.

“I thought this could happen to somebody else.”

But Mary Cook, the owner of the dogs, found the judge’s order to be extreme.

“Just ’cause they’re ‘pits,’ that’s given them a bad name,” she said at the time. “There’s little dogs out here that bite worse than they could.”

She also said her dogs had never before attacked anyone, and thought her animals should get a second chance.

But Tuesday, the judge’s deadline, she took them to a veterinarian who euthanized them.

Link

State: Cougar killings come down to liability

The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans is heating up again. After a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish warden darted a female cougar in the backyard of an Eldorado home April 20 and later euthanized it, angry callers and letter writers lambasted the agency for “trigger happy” tactics. Albuquerque resident Charlotte Salazar thinks just the opposite. Her 5-year-old son was attacked by a cougar last May during a family hike on a popular Sandia Mountain trail. Salazar believes wildlife officers aren’t doing enough to control the cougar population. The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans has changed little in 30 years, said Marty Frentzel, public information officer with the state Department of Game and Fish. For the state, the decision over euthanizing a captured cougar comes down to one word: liability. Game and Fish Department officials worry about getting sued if someone is attacked by a cougar that was captured and released elsewhere. That fear isn’t unwarranted. In a 1996 incident in Arizona, a black bear that had been captured, tagged and released into a mountain range near Tucson badly mauled a teenage girl in her tent. The girl’s family sued the Arizona Game and Fish Department, claiming the agency shouldn’t have released a bear when it knew the animal had previously shown no fear of humans. The state settled the case out of court for $2.5 million…Santa Fe New Mexican

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It did attack four people. I don’t see how it could be trusted around people anymore. 

Peabody pit bull that attacked four sentenced to death

By Matthew K. Roy
Staff writer
 

PEABODY — The pit bull that attacked three women and a police officer at a Peabody mobile home park has received a death sentence.

The city’s animal control officer issued an order to have the dog, Bronson, euthanized within 90 days, police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto said yesterday. Lilian Pinto made her decision after owner Brian Stevens and his lawyer appeared at a hearing last week in the Peabody police station.

Pinto based her ruling on the “totality” of the pit bull’s actions, Bonaiuto said.

Bronson is responsible for more than 50 wounds suffered by Cassandra Osgood, 23, of Danvers during an April 9 attack. The dog mauled her friend Sarah Malave, 24, of Middleton and injured Stevens’ girlfriend, Jamie Brickman, 27. Patrolman William Swaczyk is still recovering from arm injuries the dog inflicted when the officer wrestled it off Malave.

In 2007, Stevens suffered puncture wounds on his forearms, his right thigh and buttocks when the dog turned on him.

Stevens, 27, learned of Bronson’s fate over the weekend in a letter from the city.

“We knew that this was coming,” his lawyer, Jeremy Cohen, said yesterday. “We will appeal it to the chief of police, and we will ready an appeal after that to district court if it doesn’t go well.”

At the hearing last week before Pinto and Capt. Joseph Berardino, Cohen argued that Osgood and Malave provoked the dog. He accused them of using illegal drugs, wrestling inside the mobile home and falling on top of the animal. Osgood has denied using drugs and disputes Cohen’s claim that Brickman yelled at her and Malave to stop wrestling.

“Obviously, I believe, under the circumstances, that it is the right decision,” said Kevin Barry, Osgood’s lawyer.

The dog will continue to be kept at the Borash Veterinary Clinic in Peabody during what could be a lengthy appeal process.

“There is a life at stake here,” Cohen said, “and (Stevens) wants to pursue this as far as he can.”

Link

Pit bull victim says attack not her fault

By Alan Burke
Staff writer
 

PEABODY — Cassandra Osgood is angrily denouncing a strategy of blaming the victim — herself — for a vicious attack by a pit bull.

Osgood, of Danvers, singled out especially the accusation by the dog’s owner, Brian Stevens, and lawyer Jeremy Cohen that drug use was involved in the incident at a Peabody mobile home. She denies using drugs or alcohol prior to the attack.

Three women and a police officer were injured in the incident, with Osgood suffering the worst, sustaining up to 50 wounds and extensive scarring. A hearing was held Tuesday before Peabody police Capt. Joseph Berardino and Animal Control Officer Lilian Pinto to consider the dog’s fate. A decision is expected within 72 hours of the hearing.

“There is no doubt that the dog did this, but he was agitated into doing it,” Cohen told the hearing in an effort to save the animal. Rough play between Osgood and another woman set the dog off, he suggested.

Osgood, who says her wounds are not healing well, contrasts this strategy of blaming her for the attack with her own initial reaction to the ordeal. At first, she expressed sympathy for the dog and accepted an apology from Stevens.

“Now he’s accusing me of illegal drug use — No! (The dog) got me everywhere but my face. Now something’s wrong with my right arm. People need to see this. I’m feeling this dog needs to be put to sleep.”

She also denies the version of events presented by Stevens’ girlfriend, Jamie Brickman, who said she yelled at the girls to stop wrestling prior to the attack.

“This was just a bullet that missed me,” Osgood says. “Thank God he didn’t get my throat. Or my face. I’m scarred for life.” She adds that she now needs plastic surgery and doesn’t believe that she should have to pay for it.

Cohen has acknowledged that he expects an order to euthanize the animal, but that can be appealed to the District Court within 30 days.

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Considering just how rare Mountain Lion attacks are, it seems like lately officials are euthanizing way too quickly.

Cougar killed after
entering courtyards

Updated: Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 4:23 PM MDT
Published : Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 3:35 PM MDT

• Web Producer: Todd Dukart

ELDORADO AT SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Game wardens have killed a cougar who entered the courtyards of two Santa Fe-area homes.

The 100-pound female cougar was captured and euthanized after she was found Monday at the homes in the Eldorado subdivision.

Game warden Desi Ortiz said the cougar showed no fear when he arrived at the first home. The animal stared back at him as he positioned himself with a tranquilizer gun.

Ortiz said he hit the mountain lion in the hind leg with a tranquilizer dart. She jumped over the wall to the courtyard and went missing.

A short time later, Ortiz was called to another home where a cougar was seen staggering into the courtyard.

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish officials said the original plan was to move the animal to the Jemez Mountains, but she was euthanized after officials determined she was too dangerous to people.

Dan Williams with Game and Fish said in a news release the cougar appeared to have lost its fear of humans.

Tips to avoid encounters with mountain lions and other large predators, according to Game and Fish:

• Do not feed wildlife. Use native plants, not non-natives, so as to not attract deer, which are the primary prey of lions. Remember, predators follow prey.
• Do not let your pets roam around outside. Bring them in at night. If you keep pets outside, provide a kennel with a secure top. Do not feed pets outside where the food can attract lions or other smaller animals which lions prey upon. Store and dispose of all garbage securely.
• Closely supervise children. Make sure they are home before dusk and not outside before dawn. Make lots of noise if you come or go during times when mountain lions are most active — dusk to dawn. Teach your children about lions and what they should do if they encounter one.
• Landscape or remove vegetation to eliminate hiding cover for lions, especially around areas where children play. Make it difficult for a lion to approach unseen.
• Install outdoor lighting, especially in areas where you walk, so you can see a lion if one were present.
• Close off open spaces below porches or decks.
• Place all livestock in enclosed sheds or barns at night. Close the doors to all outbuildings so that an inquisitive lion is prevented from going inside to look around.
• Also, if you encounter a mountain lion:

Stop or back away slowly if you can do so safely.

• Stay calm when you come upon a lion talk calmly yet firmly to it and move slowly.
• Immediately pick up all children off the ground and tell them to stay calm.
• Do not run from a lion as fleeing behavior may trigger the instinct of the lion to attack.
• Face the lion — do not turn your back — remain in an upright position and look as large as possible (raise your arms, open up your coat, if your wearing one).
• Carry a walking stick and use it to defend yourself by keeping it between you and the lion. If the lion approaches closer or behaves aggressively, arm yourself with the stick, throw rocks or sticks at the lion, and speak louder and more firmly to the lion. Convince the lion you are dominant and a danger to it.
• Fight back if a lion attacks you. Use any possible object within reach as a weapon, such as rocks, sticks, jackets, a backpack or your bare hands. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. Stay standing and if you fall down try to get back up on your feet.
• Call police if you feel you are in danger.

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It’s not really clear whether if the bear was even chasing the woman, but it got put to sleep. Why couldn’t they just relocate it?

Pregnant Woman Hit By Car Running From Bear

Posted: 1:46 PM Apr 23, 2009 Last Updated: 8:29 PM Apr 23, 2009 Reporter: McKenzie Martin  PLAY VIDEO: Pregnant Woman Chased By Bear RAW VIDEO: DOW Tranquilizes Bear

Police say the woman was walking when she saw a bear and she thought the bear was coming after her. The woman reportedly screamed and ran into the street. “I heard a rustle behind me and a bear came out of the creek, I was about 2 feet away from the bear,” Ashley Swendsen said. She says when the bear started following her she screamed and ran away. “I went up a gravel hill and you have to cross a bridge, there’s no pedestrian walk and I was trying to cross the bridge and this lady hit me.” Police say Swendsen, ran into the street near 6700 Vincent Drive, three blocks away from Dublin and Vincent. The driver of the car reportedly took off. Swendsen was taken to Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for a bruised leg. She is 5 months along in her pregnancy and the baby was unharmed. Police say they found a bear a while later in the area, at 1443 Rock Ridge, near Rock Ridge and Turret. The Division of Wildlife euthanized the bear after Swendsen identified her in a picture. The DOW says the bear had become a danger to the area, becoming too comfortable around humans.