Bear attack caught on video

Seasoned Appalachian Trail hikers were unconcerned following a bear attack on a sleeping camper last month in High Point State Park. But a group of bear advocates wondered why the camper's friends stood by videotaping the incident instead of trying to stop the attack, which ultimately resulted in the destruction of the bear. At 6:30 a.m. on July 13, the bear entered a camp site in a grassy meadow near the Mashipacong Appalachian Trail Shelter in the southeast corner of the park near the Wantage border, and tentatively approached the sleeping man. The man's fellow campers were awake, and when they saw the bear they reached for a video camera, and continued taping as the bear took the bottom of the man's sleeping bag in her teeth and dragged man and bag a few inches. The incident wasn't reported by park officials to the state until July 21. The news media weren't told until even later. On July 29, the bear n positively identified from the tape n was captured, tranquilized and shot dead by state wildlife officials. On Aug. 4, the tape was aired on the Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor." The tape also aired last Saturday on the Fox channel's "Heartland" show. Susan Stringfield, a volunteer for the Bear Education and Research Group, wondered what the camper's friends were thinking. "Why didn't the other campers frighten off the bear before it reached the sleeping camper?" said Stringfield, who had watched the tape. "Why would anyone continue videotaping if he believed a fellow camper was in grave danger?" The Advertiser-News obtained and viewed a videotape of the broadcast, which was still being played on Fox channel's "Heartland" last Saturday night. The video shows a young bear tentatively approaching the sleeping man, then grasping the fabric at the bottom of his sleeping bag with her teeth and pulling it, dragging the bag a distance of a few inches. The camper awakens and sits up, and the bear once again tries to pull at the fabric but then turns, backs off and flees. State policy calls for the names of bear-attack victims to remain confidential, so the man who was attacked was not identified. Although the bite left marks on his skin, the man refused medical treatment, park officials told the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection. Officials could not confirm or deny published reports that the man had cookies in his sleeping bag, which may have attracted the bear's attention. Following the incident, park officials closed the shelter and sections of the Appalachian Trail while they investigated. DEP spokeswoman Karen Hershey said that officials are sure they got the bear involved in the attack, a 142-pound, 5-year-old sow. State officials did not learn of the event until July 21, and the media was in the dark until the end of July. Hershey said park officials wanted to complete their investigation before notifying the state. Last week, a reporter for The Advertiser-News visited the area where the attack occurred and talked to two veteran hikers who had been on the trail since May. The pair, who identified themselves by their trail names as "Keltic Strider" of Victor, Idaho and "Reality Check" of Vollentown, Conn., said they had heard about the attack from members of the Ridgerunners, a group that helps maintain the trail and assists hikers with directions and other other information. The Appalachian Trail Conference oversees the Ridgerunner program. "The Ridgerunners told us the camper had inadvertently lured the bear by stashing crackers or cookies in the bottom of his sleeping bag," said "Keltic Strider." Skilled hikers, both "Keltic Strider" and "Reality Check" said that they had no fear of bears because they follow basic backwoods safety practices and store all food away from their campsites in bear-resistant containers. "Campers who leave their food exposed are actually baiting hungry bears," said "Keltic Strider." "Bears have an excellent sense of smell." The Advertiser-News reporter asked officials at High Point to talk about the attack, but the ranger in charge declined comment and referred all questions to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection.