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Bats, sharks, bears, and now this" Alligators! Almost take a man's head off in Florida! Snorkeling folks. Updated: Add coyotes!

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Hippo’s are nasty.Showing up in Florida soon😳
 
The Ranger is getting upset with Boo-Boo & Yogi!!

Officials Warn Hikers of Backpack-Stealing Bears in North Carolina


Reminder to North Carolina hikers: you are not alone.

a brown bear walking across a lush green field: JenDeVos/Getty Images
© Provided by Southern Living JenDeVos/Getty Images
An increasing number of black bear encounters lead the U.S. Forest Service to issue a warning for hikers visiting the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness inside Nantahala National Forest on Friday. No injuries have been reported, but wildlife experts urge visitors to avoid bears and take appropriate precautions.

"Encounters include bears stealing food and backpacks," the North Carolina arm of the Forest Service wrote on Facebook. "The bears will often stay in the area of the incident for multiple hours, possibly days, depending on availability of food sources. This time of the year black bears are opportunistically looking for food that campers and trail users bring on their trips."

a large brown bear walking across a lush green field: Here’s what to know before you go.
© JenDeVos/Getty Images Here’s what to know before you go.
Hikers on the popular Hangover and Stratton Bald trails should be particularly careful.


While black bear attacks on people are rare, such attacks have resulted in human fatalities.

The Forest Service recommends doing the following to prevent run-ins with bears:

  • Do not store food in tents.
  • Properly store food and scented items like toothpaste by using a bear-proof container.
  • Clean up food or garbage around areas of your campsite.
  • Do not leave food unattended.
  • Keep your dog on a leash in areas where bears are reported.
If you do encounter a bear, never run away from it. Instead, back away slowly and make lots of noise. Attempt to scare the animal away with loud shouts, by banging pans together, or throwing rocks and sticks at it. And remember, seeing a wild bear in its natural environment is a very special experience. It's up to us to act responsibly and respect their home.

For more information, visit FS.USDA.gov/visit/know-before-you-go/bears and BeBearAware.org.

Be careful out there, y'all!
 

Bear Attacks Campers Sleeping in Their Tent​


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Two campers were injured after being attacked by a bear while they were sleeping in a tent on a camping trip in Alaska.
a bear playing in the water: A brown bear fishing for salmon on the Moraine River at Katmai National Park, Alaska on August 20, 2017. A bear attacked two campers who were sleeping in a tent on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday.
© Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images A brown bear fishing for salmon on the Moraine River at Katmai National Park, Alaska on August 20, 2017. A bear attacked two campers who were sleeping in a tent on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday.
The unidentified victims were camping on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of Hidden Creek along the shore of Skilak Lake at the time of the incident Saturday, according to a statement from the wildlife refuge shared on its Facebook page.

Following the attack, the campers managed to kayak to the Upper Skilak Lake Campground where they were assisted by other campers before emergency responders were contacted, the statement said.
Officials said the campers were taken to local hospitals. No details were released about the severity of the injuries sustained by the pair.
The wildlife refuge said biologists from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) and federal wildlife officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were at the campsite, retrieving gear and conducting an investigation.
The wildlife refuge stated: "No bears were found in the area and sign left at the site was inconclusive. They found a collapsed tent and other camping gear. ADFG is conducting a DNA analysis on items collected in an attempt to identify the species of bear involved."
A public information officer for the wildlife refuge, Leah Eskelin, said it is unknown what type of bear was involved or what caused the attack. "It was a short, quick, in-your-tent attack," she told Alaska's Anchorage Daily News.
According to wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger from the ADFG, the campsite grounds consist mostly of rock and gravel, making it difficult to trace animal tracks or other clues to help establish what happened during the latest attack, Anchorage Daily News reported.
Eskelin said the victims were camping in a dispersed area near the mouth of Hidden Creek, where there were no other campers in the immediate area on Saturday morning.
Selinger said the campers, who were sleeping when the animal attacked their tent around midnight local time, described the attack as quick and intense.
Selinger noted the campers didn't have time to use the bear deterrents they had with them, including a bear horn and spray.
The biologist said once the attack stopped and things quieted down, the campers were able to load some of their gear into kayaks and head to the Upper Skilak Lake Campground. He said the campers were well prepared with first aid supplies.
Cell phone service around the Skilak Lake is spotty, so it's unlikely there was service available where the bear attack took place, according to Selinger.
The statement from the wildlife refuge said Alaska State Troopers were contacted via satellite phone, while emergency medical personnel responded by helicopter and ambulance after the pair kayaked to the Upper Skilak Lake Campground, a journey which took around two hours, according to Selinger.
One of the victims was airlifted to a hospital nearby, while the other was taken by ambulance, Selinger said.
"There's no indication that they did anything to prompt the attack or did anything wrong," Selinger told Anchorage Daily News. "It's one of those where you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The Hidden Creek Trail, which ends at Skilak Lake near the campsite, was temporarily closed to the public on Saturday before it reopened Sunday. Warning signs were posted to inform visitors of the latest bear attack.
"The big thing is being prepared as well as these folks were. You could get attacked in the Fred Meyer parking lot—you're always in bear country here," Selinger told Anchorage Daily News.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service warns: "Alaska is fortunate to be home to these amazing creatures. With this privilege comes the added responsibility for hikers and campers to prevent conflicts with these animals.
"Often these conflicts are a result of human carelessness, especially with food...therefore, it is important that they don't consider campsites and other populated areas as a food source.
"A bear will often attack if its food supply is tampered with. If you notice fresh bear sign, such as scat or tracks, turn back the way you came," it adds.
The ADFG says: "If you encounter a bear, how you behave often dictates the outcome of the encounter. Even though encounters with bears are not common and aggressive bear encounters are rare, the more you know about bear safety the better off you are."
See the websites of the ADFG and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for more information about bear safety.
Newsweek has contacted the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as well as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for comment.
 
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Idaho Statesman

Massive bear seen on camera in SC wilderness. ‘Wouldn’t want to walk up on this guy!’​

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Mark Price
Fri, July 2, 2021, 12:08 PM


A massive black bear that could be among the biggest in South Carolina has appeared in a single trail camera photo in Sumter National Forest.
The image shows the bear on its hind legs, head up and mouth open — as if caught in a roar.
Deer hunter Allen Shelor says it was taken June 25 in the Mountain Rest area of Oconee County, eight miles from his home in Walhalla. Oconee County is the state’s westernmost county, wedged between North Carolina and Georgia.
“He’s huge. That’s the biggest bear I’ve ever seen and I grew up in this area,” Shelor told McClatchy News.

“It’s hard to say how big. The state record is around 600 pounds and I believe he’d be close to that and will only get bigger through the summer. I didn’t have a gun when I went to get that camera. That makes you think, knowing he’s there somewhere.”
Shelor says he regrets not having his camera set on video, but his photo is still good enough to reveal what the bear had been doing minutes earlier. There’s something red dripping from its paws and chest, he noted.
“He had been in a blackberry patch, eating. There are a lot of blackberries there and he’s covered in blackberry juice,” Shelor said.
Woman who fed peanut butter to a Smoky Mountains bear is in trouble, park says
Black bears, which are native to the Southeast, have become a subject of concern in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and the Carolinas. A 16-year-old girl was seriously hurt by a bear June 18, as she slept in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and aggressive bear incidents have forced the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail to put temporary camping restrictions in place.
Average weight for a male bear in South Carolina is up to 350 pounds, the state says. However, the record is 609 pounds (shot in 2013), and multiple bears in the 590- to 597-pound range have been killed in the recent years, The State reports.
Shelor’s photo was posted on Facebook by his sister, Lee Boling, and it has gotten hundreds of reactions and shares. Commenters wonder not only how big it is, but also what it was doing: Dancing or scratching its back against a tree?
“I wouldn’t want to walk up on this guy!” Frank Wilmot wrote.
“Too close for comfort,” Jonnie Hendrix Beddingfield posted.
“Run,” Gene Ellis Jr. said.
Fisherman spots large object floating off NC coast — and discovers a swimming bear
Bears keep stealing hikers’ backpacks in NC mountains. Now officials have a warning

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Newsweek

Grizzly Bear Attacks, Kills Person at Montana Campsite​

Zoe Strozewski 1 hr ago
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A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person at a campsite in western Montana Tuesday morning, the Powell County sheriff said. The bear had wandered into the campsite multiple times before fatally assaulting the victim, according to authorities.
a brown bear walking across a lush green field: A Grizzly bear named 399 walks with her four cubs along the main highway near Signal Mountain on June 15, 2020 outside Jackson, Wyoming. A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person camping in Western Montana early Tuesday morning.
© George Frey/Getty Images A Grizzly bear named "399" walks with her four cubs along the main highway near Signal Mountain on June 15, 2020 outside Jackson, Wyoming. A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person camping in Western Montana early Tuesday morning.
"There was an earlier contact with the bear prior to the event," Sheriff Gavin Roselles said. "The bear basically came back into the campsite. It wandered into a campsite a couple different times."

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Greg Lemon said that the attack occurred near Ovando, a town with fewer than 100 people, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Lemon told Newsweek that details on the victim's identity and sex were not yet available, but he believes the person was part of a group on a bike trip. Previous reports said the victim was a man and had been riding a bicycle when the attack occurred, but neither has been confirmed, Lemon said.
A team of law enforcement and wildlife experts has assembled to track and locate the bear, authorities said. Grizzly bears, protected as a threatened species in the U.S. since 1975, can be killed if they attack humans and are believed to be a public safety threat, The Guardian reported.
Lemon said that no decisions have been made yet on what would happen to the bear if it was found.
"The circumstances are still developing. So, the focus right now that we're on is to find the bear. We got people on the ground doing that and we're going to try to get some air resources, a helicopter, to help the search," he said.
Grizzly bear numbers have been growing both in number and distribution in that area of Montana and around Yellowstone National Park, Lemon noted. For that reason, bear attacks are not uncommon in the state and the FWP has been working to promote bear safety and awareness.
"We work hard to work with local communities, livestock producers, and with the recreation community to educate people on how to avoid problems. We make a lot of effort every year to educate people who come to Montana or who are recreating in Montana on how to be bear-safe and bear-aware," he said. "The thing that we tell people is to avoid surprising a grizzly bear, carry bear spray and that sort of thing."
Lemon added that the circumstances of the Tuesday morning attack didn't seem to result from a lack of bear safety and awareness.
Newsweek contacted Sheriff Gavin Roselles, but he was unavailable for comment by publication time.
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The Grizzly Bear Had Hunted Him For Days. He Was Tired And Almost Out Of Ammo. Then...A Miracle.​

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Julia Reinstein
Thu, July 22, 2021, 9:08 AM


The Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted the lone man waving his arms in the air in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.
They had arrived just in time.
Had they not seen the man, or even flown over a slightly different area, he might have finally fallen prey to the grizzly bear who had been hunting him for days.
“If we would have been in the next river valley over, we would have totally missed him,” Lt. Cmdr. Jared Carbajal told the New York Times.

The unidentified man was rescued July 16 near the small city of Nome, the Coast Guard announced in a press release on Tuesday.
A few days before the rescue, he had been attacked by the bear. Then, every single night for a week, "the bear had returned to his camp and harassed him."
The crew spotted him after seeing an SOS sign atop a shack in a mining camp, and soon after saw him waving his arms, they said.
He was found with an unspecified leg injury and torso bruising, and transported to a hospital for medical treatment.
Coast Guard officials told the New York Times that the man, who was in his late 50s or early 60s, was severely sleep-deprived and almost out of ammunition.
“At some point, a bear had dragged him down to the river,” Carbajal said. “He had a pistol. He said that the bear kept coming back every night, and he hadn’t slept in a few days.”
Deadly bear attacks, while rare, have seen a marked uptick this year in North America, according to a report by Backpacker magazine.
Five people have been killed by bears so far in 2021, up from four in 2020 and two in 2019.
Just weeks ago, on July 6, a 64-year-old woman was killed by a grizzly bear in Montana.
 
He was looking for food that the tourists give them along with bait. Happens a lot at Bethany with the foxes. I doubt it was an attack.
 
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Jelisa Castrodale
Tue, August 3, 2021, 9:41 AM


Black bear crossing road

Black bear crossing road
Getty Images
On a visitors' website for the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, there's an entire page dedicated to "Bear Facts," due to the prevalence of black bears in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "Though populations are variable, biologists estimate that roughly 1,500 bears live in the park," the website reads. "This equals a population density of approximately two bears per square mile."
One bear might've expanded his (or her) territory last week, after it was seen not grazing quietly in the park itself, but lumbering down the sidewalk in the center of Gatlinburg. According to WATE, the bear actually went into Crawdaddy's Restaurant and Oyster Bar on Friday afternoon, running up the front stairs before turning around and leaving the building.
An employee said the bear "ran into someone" on his way out and knocked them to the ground. (We hope that person is OK, and we'd also love to see the reaction of their friends the first time they tell that story.)

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After slipping out of Crawdaddy's, the bear reportedly wandered along the sidewalk, ignoring the fact that everyone was taking pictures of its trip downtown. "Can you imagine sitting in the restaurant and a bear coming out?" one visitor from South Carolina said, according to the station. (No, no we cannot.)
The Gatlinburg Police Department told WATE that an ambulance was called to the area, but fortunately, there don't seem to have been any injuries to humans or to the bear. The block where the bear was spotted is a seriously touristy section of the town: Crawdaddy's is in the middle of a row of restaurants, candy stores, souvenir shops, and the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this isn't the first time a bear has casually walked into a Gatlinburg-area restaurant. Last October, a black bear helped itself to the trash can inside the Smokehouse at the Anakeesta theme park. "We were sitting down and drinking hot chocolate," Tyler Crawford, who was in the restaurant at the time, told TheSmokies.com. "We had our backs turned to it and my son says 'Look, a bear' as casually as he could."
Crawford said that the unexpected animal encounter was nerve-wracking, especially when it "lunged" at some of the Smokehouse staffers. "My girlfriend can be heard [on our video of the incident] saying 'Can someone make this thing leave,'" he said. "She was frightened both for herself and for our son."
The bear was safely ushered out of the restaurant and no one was harmed. Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park encourage visitors to "be bear aware" during their time in the Smokies — and apparently, that awareness includes looking out for furry 550-pound dine-and-dashers, even when they're eating dinner.
 
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