An 8-year-old Florida boy sustained minor injuries Monday evening when attacked by a young black bear in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A bear thought to have been behind the attack was later killed by rangers.
The attack was reported about 7:30 p.m. local time along the Rainbow Falls Trail, a popular hiking trail off the Cherokee Orchard Road just south of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Rangers say Evan Pala, of Boca Raton, Florida, was playing along LeConte Creek about 300 yards up Rainbow Falls Trail from the trailhead when he was reportedly attacked twice by a bear. The boy suffered non-life-threatening cuts, scratches and puncture wounds. The boy’s father, John Pala, also of Boca Raton was able to drive off the animal with sticks and rocks, but sustained some minor injuries himself.
The boy was transported by Gatlinburg Ambulance to Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center in Sevierville Tennessee, and the father drove to the same facility for treatment.
Based upon the father’s description of the bear and the location, Rangers went to the scene and encountered a bear that acted aggressively towards them as well. They shot the bear. They did locate a child’s shoe and a cap at the sight that they believe belonged to the family.
Park Wildlife Management personnel also responded. They described the bear as an estimated 55-pound male – probably a yearling. The animal was transported to the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center for a necropsy to establish that it is the bear that attacked the child.
No names or home town are available for release at this time.
Comments
You're lucky if you've had only one encounter with a black bear. Unfortunately, you do not live near the Smoky Mountains where there are WAY TOO MANY bears!!! The density of the black bear population in the park is approximately 2 per square mile now. That can not be healthy for bears and is certainly not safe for hikers. I've been to the park 3 times since moving to Georgia from the Midwest a few months ago. I love hiking, but have already had 2 close (less than 30 ft.) encounters with full-grown black bears on designated hiking trails in the park and have seen at least 20 more from a greater than 30 foot distance. These bears are, in no way, afraid of humans.
The first bear was not aggressive. My boyfriend and I were caught near the summit of the uncharacteristically deserted Chimney Tops in a thunderstorm. I was eager to get back to the car, but we had to wait about 45 minutes for a full-grown bear to get off the trail directly ahead. Eventually, he receded about 15-20 ft. back into the foliage just to the side of the trail. He turned and watched as we quickly passed, but, despite our making loud noises, did not flee the scene.
The second bear was a mother and two cubs on the heavily visited Laurel Falls trail. This one growled at hikers. We turned back, along with a group of about 20 people, because we had already hiked 9.6 miles that day and were just too tired to deal with a bear. Back in the parking lot, we heard rumors that the bear had run at a mother and baby in a stroller.
Most unnerving to me, though, was the seven (yes seven!) bears we had seen in a group earlier that day on the comparatively isolated trail to Ramsey Falls. There were a lot of food wrappers, beer bottles, and even a Kentucky Fried Chicken Bucket left behind on the trail, so it's no surprise that there were bears in the area.
We also saw two smaller bears from a distance at the Rainbow Falls Trail......... exactly 4 days before a young boy was attacked by a yearling on the same trail.
I have read that some of the deterrents (ie. non-lethal bullets) park rangers have been using have been making the bears more aggressive and that noise does not frighten many bears because a significant number of them have been found to have very poor hearing.
And yes, you're absolutely correct that people don't always know how to behave around wildlife, but to imply that people are being attacked because of their own carelessness or other actions that provoke or entice bears is unfair. Often, people are being attacked because of OTHER people's actions or the simple fact that bears have too much contact with people in this part of the country and are not inclined to avoid humans.
I would absolutely love to hike the Appalachian Trail through the park, but even with bear spray, I have my reservations. I'm afraid the rapidly increasing threat of violent bear attacks may make the trip just too dangerous.
They have tried relocating bears in Great Smoky several times, and the bears always return to the place from which they were taken. This bear was aggressive. I hate killing animals too, but the bears are overpopulating the park. It's time allow very limited and cautious bear hunting.
Anonymous,
You provide an interesting & instructive account. Thank you.
When I was a kid on the Olympic Peninsula in '50s & '60s, everyone liked to have a 'bear-story'. Most of them began by the teller holding up the thumb & index-finger with a gap of 1 or 2 tenths of inch between them.
"Yep, it was out there, oh, 400, maybe 600 yards", thumb & index-finger bobbing up & down, "moving at around 40 mph straight up that steep hill through impenetrable brush like it wasn't there. He musta went airborne when he cleared over the top."
That's basically all anyone ever saw of a bear - a tiny black speck near the limits of vision, retreating at its panic-maximum speed. If you watched the black speck for as much as a full second, that was an unusually long sighting.
The reason bears acted like that, of course, is they were routinely hunted.
Today, Olympic Nat'l Park people are chewing their nails to the quick, getting ulcers worrying when the first Olympic bear-attack will suck them into the developing hurricane that now threats to ravage wildlife management professionals & institutions all across North American. They're in denial, their heads in the sand. See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.
Even quite recently, I would have said, "No, though hunting carnivores would do the trick alright, I can't see them coming around to it".
Now, though, I definitely can see it, and I don't think it's very far off. I now think that the situation with bear & cougar has been allowed to degenerate to such a state that it is now all but inevitable the Parks will be forced to embrace hunting against their own bias & prejudice, and weather the withering flak they will get from anti-hunting allies among environmentalists.
I don't understand why there are so many black bear attacks these days. There are bears in my area in CT and I won't let my 6 year old play outdoors because of recent sightings. CT does not allow bear hunting like our neighboring state, Massachusettes and although I have always felt that wildlife should be left alone, I am starting to have another opinion. Predatory Black bears who are not afraid of humans are a threat to our physical and emotional stability. Relocation doesn't seem to work because the bears make their way back all too soon. In my state an 83 year old man is in jail because he shot a bear who was in his back yard. He is old and was terrified because despite making noise to shu the bear away, the bear stood his ground and would not leave thus the man resorted to his primal instinct for survival. I am starting to wonder which animal has more rights and why.
Anonymous Sept 12 laments:
This is happening, because mama bears are no longer teaching their cubs that humans are to be feared & avoided.
Mama bears no longer know that humans are dangerous, because they are no longer hunted.
Smart environmentalists ought to consider how controlled hunting can best be reestablish & managed, to promote their own preferred outcome. Otherwise, we may see the situation with large carnivores deteriorate to a point where the resolution of the problem no longer includes environmentalists or their preferences.
Specifically, if bears within a region begin to actively hunt humans (this is where the changes in bear-behavior are headed), then wildlife management professionals & agencies will probably have to completely eradicate the bear-population from the entire region.
Do keep a close eye on your 6-year-old. The situation is not getting better - it's getting worse. Consider getting a 'good' dog. You don't need a 'kill-dog', but you don't want a 'silly' dog either. Dogs are great for scenting & hearing animals off in the brush, and react especially well toward bears. A good fence is a big help, too, though costly. Many 6-year-olds love dogs.
Lastly, I would recommend buying a rifle and taking Hunting & Firearms training (which is readily available to you), even if you have no intention of hunting. That way, you are knowledgeable and have the tools to do what needs to be done, in an emergency.
Good luck & stay safe. :-)
I live nearby and from what I read and heard on the local news, the little boy had been eating KFC chicken and had wiped his hands on his clothing. That would indicate to me the bear thought the little boy was a food source and was not attacking a human for the sake of attacking a human. His father was there and took on the bear as well to protect his son, but at that point the bear was probably thinking he was fighting something else for his food source.
They did the right thing in killing the bear if he harmed a child and showed aggression toward the Rangers.
Anywhere you the put the bear, he could have easily been in contact with people again. I'm glad they didn't give the bear another chance to harm or kill someone.
I totally agree, the only issue is that we can't have bears and kids playing together. So, either don't build a house in the woods and complain about the animals or stay in the city. If you are visiting a State Park that is known for bears, heck you can't walk two feet in Gatlinburg, TN without someone selling you a cute little black bear stuffed animal, T-shirt or salt & pepper shakers. So pay attention, carry a whistle, if not bear mace. So it's sad but, humans “WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST”, when it comes to bear confrontations. I have to adimit I agree to a depending on the situation.
I would have also killed this bear, to help save the other bears! Humans have a way of wiping out what they fear or hate. I have large dogs and would have to always insist that any biting or sever mouthing or human aggression, is totally unacceptable from any dog of any size... period! Any animal that bites humans, MUST be rehabilitated, relocated or put down, humanely. Once an animal breaks that invisible line of fear and respect for humans and humans for bears, it becomes a recipe of disaster.
I have helped with various wildlife rescues in Tennesse and love all animals. I hoping to go back to EKU for wildlife biology.
I am sad to hear about this event. Black bears are beautiful creatures and need space to live and be free, just like the rest of us.
I hope we all can be blessed enough to have space and freedom. I don't think anyone can argue with that. :)