In recent news, a woman in Frederick, Maryland, was attacked by a 200-lb female black bear when she was in the driveway of her daughter’s home. Karen Osborne, the woman that was attacked, is currently still recovering at the Meritus Medical Center. She suffered a broken left arm, and bite wounds on her head and chest that, “…required more than 70 stitches,” (1). How Karen survived the attack, as her husband Ronald Osborne explains, is that when the bear came after her she tried punching and clawing at it, but when that didn’t work she started to play dead (1). It is assumed that by doing this the bear went away, and after the attack she immediately called 911 for assistance (2).

The director of the Department of Natural Resources’, Paul Peditto, stated that the fact there was a bear attack in the area of Middletown, Frederick, is very odd, because there hasn’t been an attack in that area, “…in the last 81 years,” (2). The Department of Natural Resources tracked the black bear and euthanized it, under the policy, stating death for bears that attack civilians (1). It is unfortunate that the mother bears had cubs when they put her to death, but The Department of Natural Resources claim that the cubs are old enough and big enough to survive on their own.

The bear population has gone up in the area in the past couple of years, with an estimated population of more than 1,000 in 2011. This statistic, along with the attack, prompted Maryland to expand bear hunting this year to Frederick County (2).

Sources:

(1): http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/bear-attack-injures-woman-called-911-ground-43601969

(2): http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/disasters_and_accidents/woman-who-was-attacked-by-bear-has-bites-pretty-much/article_42866da7-2f15-5a74-a48e-1d8b0c297c65.html

Picture: http://www.defenders.org/black-bear/basic-facts