Another day, another predator attacking people in California. In April, an elderly homeless man was attacked by a bear. In May, a child was attacked by a mountain lion. This time, a man was attacked in an LA subdivision while protecting his dog.
According to KTLA, the dog attacked a bear cub in the backyard of the home which provoked the mother bear to attack the dog. In an effort to save his dog, the 50-year-old man kicked the bear. She then turned on the man slashing his calf and biting the back of his knee.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife tranquilized the bears to relocate them. The pair were notorious for roaming the foothills of the Angeles National Forest just a half mile away from the home.
The man and the dog are both expected to recover.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife released the following:
The adult black bear that scratched a man on his Sierra Madre property on June 10 was protecting her cub and not acting abnormally aggressive, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) investigation has concluded. CDFW is in the process of releasing both the bear and cub back to suitable habitat near the location where they were captured.
The entire news release can be read here.
It can be interesting to compare the different ways states handle similar situations. Last month in Colorado, a woman was bitten by a bear. A hunt ensured and the bear was put down per CPW regulations. In that case, the woman was hiking in the bear’s habitat. In this case, the bears were in a subdivision and CDFW chose to tranquilize and relocate the bears. Which do you think is the better form of bear management?
