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.

Additional information is being released in connection with a fatal bear attack which happened near Yellowstone Park on Wednesday morning.

State wildlife officials say that two people were injured and one person was killed in separate bear attacks that occurred at the Soda Butte Campground.

Park County Sheriff’s Department dispatch records show that a Park County Sheriff’s deputy and a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks game warden were dispatched to the area at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and Investigators found a man dead at the campground about two hours later.

Two other people, a male and a female, were reportedly bitten and later treated at a hospital in Cody, Wyoming. The identities of the victims have not been released.

FWP officials, in cooperation with the Gallatin National Forest, the National Park Service and the Park County Sherriff’s Office spent much of the day at the site collecting forensic evidence of the attacks.

Officials from the agencies plan to hold a community meeting at the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the incident.

“The camp sites are being combed for evidence,” said FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim “We’re not certain if it was one bear or more than one, and we haven’t determined if it was a grizzly or black bear. We’ve extracted DNA samples from evidence found on site. This will help us identify the bear or bears involved, once captured.”

Officials say that tents were ripped or damaged during the attacks but no food was found in the tent of the dead man or in the tents of the two injured victims. “Everyone appeared to have followed all food storage regulations,” Aasheim said.

The Soda Butte Campground, the nearby Chief Joseph and Colter campgrounds, also in the Gallatin National Forest, are closed.

“This is not typical bear behavior. It’s odd. It’s not normal,” Aasheim said.

FWP officials have set a number of traps in anticipation of the animal’s return on Wednesday night.

via KPAX – Missoula, Montana – News, Weather, Sports – - KPAX Home Missoula News, Missoula Weather, Missoula Sports, Montana News, Montana Weather, Montana Sports | Separate bear attacks blamed for fatality, injuries.

ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif.—State wildlife officials say a bear that attacked a man at a campground in Eldorado National Forest has been shot and killed by wardens.

A spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Game says after dogs tracked the bear, wardens shot it around 6:15 p.m. Friday.

The animal, described as a 1-year-old black bear, was identified by its paw print. It was located about a a quarter-mile from where it slashed a man’s face at a campground near Union Valley Reservoir around 2 a.m. Friday.

Fish and Game spokeswoman Kirsten Macintyre says the man, who was armed with a .45-caliber pistol, scared the bear off by firing a shot.

The man, who has not been named, required 26 stitches after the attack.

The campground where the attack took place is in a remote area about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento.

via Game wardens kill bear that attacked camper – San Jose Mercury News.

The Red River Gorge area in Daniel Boone National Forest is closed until further notice because of an attack by a black bear Sunday.

Officials have not released the hiker’s name or discussed the extent of his injuries.

The man, said to be in his mid-50s, was hiking with his wife and son on Pinch-Em-Tight Trail on Sunday when a black bear approached and attacked unprovoked, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kimberly Morgan said. The man, a Springfield resident, was taken to a hospital in Irvine and later to University of Kentucky Hospital.

State wildlife officials are setting traps in the area to capture the bear, and until they have caught it or know that it has left the area, the Red River Gorge recreation area will be closed, Morgan said.

“For this bear to have attacked, it’s an aggressive bear,” she said.

The closed area includes all National Forest System lands north of Natural Bridge State Resort Park to U.S. Highway 460 in Menifee, Powell and Wolfe counties.

Anyone who sees a black bear in the Red River Gorge area is urged to call 1-800-252-5378.

via Red River Gorge is closed after bear attack – Latest News – Kentucky.com.

A fox that attacked a Cottonwood woman Wednesday tested positive for rabies Thursday.

It was the first reported rabid wildlife attack in Yavapai County this year, after several odd incidents in 2009.

The year 2009 saw a record 280 confirmed reports of rabid wildlife. About half were skunks, 69 were bats and 51 were foxes. Fifteen cases occurred in Yavapai County, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Last year's record was a 59 percent increase from the previous record of 176 set in 2008. So far this year, the state has recorded 61 rabies cases in wild animals, two-thirds were skunks.

While state agencies don't track rabid wildlife attacks, at least three occurred last year in the Prescott and Cottonwood areas.

In the latest incident Wednesday evening, a woman who lives along North Willard Streeet in Cottonwood said a fox attacked her and bit her hand.

She had just caught a javelina in a trap in her yard and when it was loaded into her vehicle, she went back into her yard.

Suddenly a grey fox jumped over a retaining wall and bit her hand, then ran away. She suffered minor lacerations and is undergoing rabies shots.

The woman's husband said the fox had been in the area for some time and thought it lived in an abandoned house next door. However, it had just started acting strangely in the last few days.

When the report came into the police, they suspected the fox was rabid because they had received two earlier reports of a fox trying unsuccessfully to attack people in the area, including a UPS driver who fended off the fox with a clipboard, according to state wildlife officials and Cottonwood Sgt. Gareth Braxton.

An officer spotted the fox in the vacant home next to the victim's home, Cottonwood police said. When the fox leaped onto the retaining wall about 15 feet away from the officers, one of the officers shot and killed it.

Arizona Game and Fish Department spokesperson Zen Mocarski warned people to stay away from wild animals and watch for unusual behavior indicative of rabies.

Signs of rabies include lethargy, lack of fear of humans, unusual aggression and activity during the heat of the day, especially from nocturnal animals.

The last reported rabid wildlife attack in Yavapai County took place in April 2009 when a rabid bobcat attacked a family walking along Lynx Creek in Prescott Valley.

In March 2009, a rabid bobcat attacked patrons in a Cottonwood bar, and the saloon's video camera captured the havoc.

And in February 2009 and November 2008, two separate rabid foxes attacked hikers at the Granite Mountain Recreation Area just west of Prescott.

via Rabid fox attacks Cottonwood woman – The Prescott Daily Courier – Prescott, Arizona.