A black bear was mistakenly euthanized by wildlife officials on the Appalachian Trail after a hiker was bitten on the leg.
On the night of May 10, Las Vegan Bradley Veeder was sleeping his tent near the Spence Field Backcountry Shelter, located within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, N.C.
A black bear tore through Veeder’s tent and bit down on the 49-year-old’s lower leg.
Although the bear scampered away before Veeder or other campers could glimpse it, the bear later returned to ransack the tent (Veeder had taken shelter in a nearby hut by then).
Veeder followed the appropriate protocol, stringing up his food on cables, reported the Washington Post.
Speaking with Citizen Times, park spokesperson, Dana Soehn said park officials had reason to believe that they had euthanized the culprit.
“It was a large, dominant male bear that fit the profile of the bear we expected to be responsible for the attack,” Soehn said.
As the black bear was found a mere 75 yards from Veeder’s campsite, “the odds of another large, dominant male being in that area is low because bears defend their territory,” Soehn explained.
Each year, Soehn noted, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park euthanizes about three bears.
In Chile, two days ago, Chilean zookeepers killed two lions after a suicidal Franco Luis Ferrada stripped naked and entered the feline’s enclosure.
