ActivePaper Archive Traps laid for black bear - Chattanooga, 4/15/2006

Traps laid for black bear

Chilhowee campground closed as search continues

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Staff Photo by D. Patrick Harding

Jason Jackson, an officer in Roane County for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, prepares to set a culvert bear trap Friday. The trap and several others are being put out to capture a black bear that killed a 6-year-old girl and mauled her mother and 2-year-old brother in the Chilhowee campground in the Cherokee National Forest.

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Staff Photo by Ashley E. Chapman

Dr. Greg Talbott, left, speaks during a news conference Friday at Erlanger hospital while Dr. Vicente Mejia looks on. The doctors spoke about the condition of a 45-year-old mother and her 2-year-old son who were attacked by a bear Thursday.

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Elora Petrasek

CHILHOWEE MOUNTAIN, Tenn. — State and federal officials said they hope to find a black bear that killed a 6-year-old Ohio 6-yearold girl when they return to the Chilhowee Recreation Area this morning. Officers set four "culvert" traps and six snare traps Friday on Chilhowee Mountain, then left the area to allow the bears to approach the honey buns and doughnuts set out as bait last night, Cherokee National Forest public information officer Paul Bradley said. Mr. Bradley said the road leading up the mountain and both the Chilhowee and Parksville campgrounds are closed until the bear is found. The search follows an attack Thursday by a large black bear that killed the girl and mauled her 45-year-old mother and 2-year-old 2-yearold brother, officials said. The two survivors are being treated at Erlanger hospital. The Sandusky Register in Ohio reported the victim was Elora Petrasek, a child who loved the outdoors and had set her heart on being a marine biologist. Her mother, Susan Cenkus, and 2-year-old brother, Lucas Cenkus, were injured. They lived in York Township near Clyde, Ohio. The bears are more active than usual this spring, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency public information officer Dan Hicks said. "There have been 42 sightings in the last couple of weeks," Mr. Hicks said. He said the killer bear was estimated to weigh as much as 350 to 400 pounds. Mr. Hicks said that any bear captured would be killed and taken to veterinary doctors at the University of Tennessee for a necropsy. Doctors said Friday afternoon at an Erlanger hospital news conference that the mother and her son suffered severe wounds to the head and neck. On Friday, the mother was listed in critical condition and the child was stable, doctors said. The woman suffered eight puncture wounds to her neck, Dr. Vicente Mejia said. Dr. Greg Talbott, who is treating the boy, said the child was responsive Friday and was becoming irritated with being in the hospital. Dr. Talbott said the boy suffered puncture wounds to the skull. Dr. Mejia said the children’s mother will have to undergo more surgery and would require skin grafting because of the extent of her injuries. Both doctors said they could not comment on how long the mother and son might be hospitalized. Mr. Hicks said the attack came shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday as the family enjoyed the water pooled at the base of Benton Falls along with other families. "When they got ready to leave, the kids ran up the trail, as kids do. And then they came running back saying there’s a bear," Mr. Hicks said. "Bears will sometimes parallel something they’re after. It busted out right at the bottom of the falls," he said. "It picked the boy up by the head, and the mother and other people started fighting the bear." The mother was dragged off the trail as the other people tried to fend it off, he said. "During the chaos of the event, the 6-year-old girl was discovered missing because all the adults were trying to help the injured," he said. Polk County Rescue Squad members later found the bear "hovering over the little girl’s body," Mr. Hicks said. A rescue squad member shot at the bear with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, but there was no evidence the bear was struck, he said. Mr. Hicks said he was frustrated at the lack of first-hand information. None of the eyewitnesses have told state or federal authorities what they saw, he said, and he was relying on information told to emergency workers at the scene. Officials said it is hard to say why the bear attacked. Mr. Hicks speculated the killer could be a young male bear attempting to establish a territory. Bears’ territories are around 1,000 acres, he said. He said it also was possible the bear was sick. The Sandusky Register reported that the victims’ family members declined to comment Friday evening, requesting privacy for the next few days. York Township neighbor Colleen Hankins told the Register that Elora, who was homeschooled, and her 7-year-old 7-yearold daughter, Brooke, were friends. Elora was a sweet girl who always had a special love for life, Ms. Hankins said. The bear attack was especially gruesome considering Elora’s love of animals. "It’s more tragic to me because of that," Ms. Hankins said. Elora would drop beautifully decorated cards for Brooke in the mailbox, she said. Mrs. Cenkus’ husband is Richard, also of the York Township area, a relative told the Register. He’s not Elora’s father, who lives in Florida, the paper reported. TWRA Area Supervisor Les Jones said officials wanted to keep human activity to a minimum on the mountain and increase chances of trapping the bear. "Our goal is to get this bear and get him out of here," Mr. Jones said. Mr. Jones said evidence from Thursday’s incident "looked more like a predatory attack." Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman Bob Miller said Thursday’s attack was similar to a fatal May 2000 attack on a 50-year-old schoolteacher near Gatlinburg, Tenn. Mr. Miller said the woman’s camera contained two photographs of her attackers at a small creek bridge near where her body was found. The bears were on the opposite side of a footbridge, on the end she needed to cross to get to the main trail, he said. When her husband found her, the two bears were still guarding the body, he said. "The best conclusion was that it was a predatory attack," he said. There have been 50 to 60 fatal bear attacks in recorded North American history, he said. That number includes Canada and Alaska, where attacks are much more common, Mr. Miller said. The Sandusky Register contributed to this story. E-mail Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com E-mail Cliff Hightower at chightower@timesfreepress.com