Black bear kills girl, critically injures two

BENTON, Tenn. – Using traps baited with honey buns and doughnuts, officials today hunted for a black bear that killed a 6-year-old girl and critically injured her mother and 2-year-old brother.

The family had been playing at a pool below a waterfall in the Cherokee National Forest on Thursday when the bear attacked, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

Witnesses said the bear first snatched up the boy in its mouth as the mother and other visitors tried to fend it off with sticks and rocks, said Dan Hicks, a spokesman for the agency.

The 6-year-old girl ran away while the bear was attacking, but she was later found dead about 100 yards down the trail with a bear standing over her, authorities said.

"Allegedly, after the rescue squad found the little girl, one of the squad members fired a shot from a small caliber handgun," Hicks said today. "We don't know whether the bear was hit or not. There was no blood, but it chased it off."

The mother and the boy were both flown to a Chattanooga hospital, authorities said.

The 640,000-acre park runs along the Tennessee-North Carolina line southwest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Authorities also are asking anyone who was at the campground and saw the attack to come forward because witness accounts could help find the bear.

The campground was evacuated after the attack and the witnesses have now scattered, Hicks said.

The family was from Ohio but Hicks said he wasn't sure if they were in the area camping. No names have been released.

Rangers said the animal may have been suffering from a disease that affected its behavior.

"It's a pretty rare thing, black bears generally don't attack people. I can't think of any time other than — just really rare circumstances," said Monty Williams, park ranger.

In May 2000, a woman was killed by a black bear near Gatlinburg. Glena Ann Bradley, a schoolteacher from Cosby, was attacked by two female bears when she took a walk on a trail near a Smoky Mountains campground.