Syracuse.com - Black bear attacks female hunter, 18, in Pennsylvania

[HuntingNY-News]

She suffered severe bites on her arms and shoulders, and a deep cut on her head.

 

MILL HALL, Pa. (AP) - A black bear attacked a teenager in central Pennsylvania as she hunted deer on a family farm, state police said Tuesday.

Camille Marie Bomboy, 18, of Mill Hall, suffered severe bites on her arms and shoulders, and a deep cut on her head, authorities said. She was hunting with a large group Monday in Porter Township, about 75 miles northwest of Harrisburg, when three black bear cubs ran past her.

Troopers said the girl turned around to see a large black bear charging her and that the victim's stepfather was able to scare it off. The girl underwent surgery at a hospital.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission was investigating. The black bear population in Pennsylvania has increased from about 4,000 in the 1970s to about 14,000 today, according to the commission.

In October 2011, a married couple was injured when a bear followed the family dog into their central Pennsylvania home. That encounter took place about 60 miles south of Mill Hall. At the time, state officials said there hadn't been a fatal bear attack in Pennsylvania for more than a century.

Authorities say black bear attacks are rare, but in 2002, a 5-month-old girl was killed by one in New York's Catskill Mountains.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog