A bear that attacked a man in Pennsylvania last weekend tested positive for rabies, according to officials.
On Jan. 19, in the town of Jim Thorpe in the eastern part of the state, “an adult male bear aggressively approached a man then proceeded to bite and scratch him, exhibiting abnormal behaviours for a black bear,” Pennsylvania Game Commission, Northeast Region wrote in a post on Facebook.
A video obtained by news outlet PAHomepage showed a bear running out of a wooded area toward a driveway. A man can be seen slowly walking away, but the bear ran towards him and jumped on him. The man toppled over as a passerby rushed to help him.
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Andrew Neirer, the man who was attacked, told PAHomepage he saw a bear sitting in the middle of a trail on his way to the store. He said he believed the bear was scared and looking for food.
“They’re hungry. They’re starving. They’re supposed to be in hibernation,” said Neirer to the news outlet. “This weather is weird lately. Hot, cold, warm, cold.”
The bear was fatally shot by a neighbour. Neirer received medical treatment and is expected to fully recover, the commission said on Facebook.
Neirer said he felt bad that the animal was killed, but was lucky to be saved.
The game commission tested the bear for rabies.
“While rabies in bears is rare and a case emerging in a given area usually is isolated, rabies poses a risk to all mammals. In this particular case, male bear typically den alone therefore reducing the risk of other bear being exposed to rabies,” the commission said.
The bear population in the state has grown from 4,000 in the 1970s to roughly 18,000 today, per the commission.
“This increase is due to the Pennsylvania Game Commission properly managing habitat,” according to Discover NEPA, a site dedicated to the Northeastern part of the state.
This means that the interactions, and conflicts, between humans and bears are more frequent. The population is being “managed using regulated hunting,” the commission said.
Black bears can sprint up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph) and climb 100 feet (30 metres) up a tree within 30 seconds, according to BearWise, part of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Male black bears can weigh between 130 and 500 pounds, or between 60 and 225 kilograms.
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