MORRIS, Conn.— A 250-pound (113-kilogram) black bear mauled a 10-year-old boy taking part in in his grandparents’ yard in Connecticut and tried to tug him away earlier than the animal was fatally shot by police, authorities mentioned.
The kid was attacked about 11 a.m. Sunday within the city of Morris, the state Division of Power and Environmental Safety mentioned. He was taken to a hospital for therapy of accidents that weren’t life-threatening.
Officers from the state police and DEEP’s environmental conservation drive responded and shot the bear, authorities mentioned.
The boy’s grandfather described the harrowing assault to the Republican-American of Waterbury. James Butler mentioned his grandson was taking part in close to a trampoline when the bear emerged from thick woods behind the home.
“I heard him yell ‘bear’ and once I seemed up, I noticed his leg within the bear’s mouth and the bear attempting to tug him throughout the garden,” Butler mentioned.
Butler, who makes use of a wheelchair, wheeled his chair towards the bear and threw a metallic bar at its head, he instructed the newspaper.
The bear launched the boy however then grabbed the kid a second time and used its claws to attempt to roll the boy onto his again, the grandfather mentioned.
A neighbor alerted by the boy’s screams raced over and scared the bear off by brandishing a pipe and yelling, Butler mentioned.
As soon as Butler and his grandson have been safely inside the home, the bear returned, strolling up a wheelchair ramp and peering at them by means of display screen door, Butler mentioned.
“We thought he was coming by means of the display screen,” Butler mentioned. “Little question he was an enormous risk.”
The bear was fatally shot by police a short while later.
Butler, and his spouse, Christina Anderson, who was inside the home when the bear attacked, mentioned the boy suffered a puncture wound to at least one thigh, chew marks on a foot and ankle and claw marks on his again.
State biologist Jenny Dixon mentioned the danger of destructive bear-human interactions is growing as Connecticut’s increasing bear inhabitants turns into acclimated to people and develops a style for his or her meals.