A 10-year-old Connecticut boy was attacked by a 250 lb. black bear Sunday morning while playing in his grandparents’ backyard in Morris, CT (Litchfield County, 15 miles north and slightly west of Waterbury).
According to the child’s grandfather, James Butler, the young boy was playing near a trampoline when the bear emerged from the woods behind the house. “I heard him yell ‘bear,’ and when I looked up, I saw his leg in the bear’s mouth and the bear trying to drag him across the lawn,” the grandfather told a reporter from the Waterbury Republican-American.
The grandfather, who uses a wheelchair for movement, began to wheel towards the bear. He threw a metal bar toward the bear, causing it to release the young boy temporarily. The bear then grabbed the child again, using its claws to try and force the boy onto his back.
A neighbor who heard the boy screaming sprinted into the yard towards the bear, waving a pipe and yelling. This was enough to scare the bear away from the boy. This allowed the grandfather and his grandson to enter the house safely.
The bear was not through terrorizing the pair. It walked towards the house, strolling up the wheelchair ramp and gazing at the pair through a screen door. “We thought he was coming through the screen,” Butler said. “No doubt he was a big threat.”
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Environmental Conservation Police (EnCon) and Connecticut State Police were called to the West St. home and were forced to euthanize the bear.
The young boy was transported by ambulance to Hungerford Hospital, where he was treated for a puncture wound on his thigh, bite marks on his foot, and claw marks on his back.
A state biologist warns CT residents that the risk of such attacks continues to increase as the bear population expands and bears become more acclimated to humans and human food.