New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Media contact: Dan Williams, (505) 476-8004
Public contact: (505) 476-8000
dan.williams@state.nm.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JUNE 30, 2010:

BEARS ATTACK CAMPER, GOAT AT PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH

PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH -- One bear was killed and conservation officers were looking for another bear Wednesday following separate incidents in which bears scratched a camper and injured a goat at Philmont Scout Ranch.

The Department of Game and Fish set a trap for a bear that ran off after it jumped on a tent and took a swipe at a camper at about 5:40 a.m. Wednesday. The adult camper received a deep scratch to his face and was treated at the Philmont health facility. Another man in the tent was not injured. The men had secured their garbage and food by suspending it in a tree and had stored their toiletries and clothes they wore while cooking away from the tent.

At about 6 a.m., another bear attacked a goat near the Philmont museum and had the animal in its mouth when a staff member heard the commotion and was able to chase the bear off. Another staff member tracked down the bear and killed it.

The bear attack on the camper was the second bear-human attack in the past four days. Monday, a bear pulled a young woman from her tent while she was sleeping with two companions in a tent in the Sandia Mountains. That bear was trapped and subsequent tests for rabies were negative.

The bear that attacked the Philmont camper also will be killed and tested for rabies, as required by state law.

For more information about living and camping around bears and other predators, please visit the Department Web site, www.wildlife.state.nm.us.

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