A 10-year-old Connecticut boy playing in his grandfather’s backyard was attacked by a black bear, requiring hospitalization for bites and scratches.
The bear, which was captured and euthanized by state wildlife officials, did not have rabies, according to tests performed after a necropsy. The boy’s grandfather, 69-year-old James Butler, was working in the yard when he heard the boy scream and saw the bear attacking him.
“I heard him yell ‘bear,'” Butler told the Republican-American. “When I looked up, I saw his leg in the bear’s mouth and the bear trying to drag him across the lawn.”
Butler picked up a metal bar and began chasing after the bear. Butler, who uses a wheelchair, threw the bar at the bear, which stopped and then resumed its attack. Butler said the bear was trying to flip his grandson on his back.
A neighbor, Jonathan Digimas, rushed over after hearing the ruckus.
“I picked up the pipe, and I threw it at the bear as hard as I could,” Digimas told NBC Connecticut. “I struck it in the head. My neighbor and my neighbor’s wife brought the little boy inside (the house). He was bleeding from his foot, and he had claw marks all over his back.”
Butler said the bear still was aggressive, rushing up the wheelchair ramp to the house. By then a state trooper had arrived and was able to run off the bear into some woods behind the house.
The bear was located and killed by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation Police shortly after the attack. Officials believe the bear had been feeding from trash cans and was becoming accustomed to being around humans. DEEP officials said the state has about 1,200 black bears and the population is growing.
The boy, who was not identified, was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. He was treated for a puncture wound to the thigh, bites to his feet and claw marks on his back. Officials said he is expected to make a full recovery.
