Stephen Vouch of Boise, Idaho was bitten in the back of the head by a black bear while he slept at a hunting camp with his buddies. The attack left Vouch with cuts but he didn't need stitches. Vouch was later treated at a hospital and released.
As for the bear, Vouch startled him when he screamed, causing the bear to jump and hit the tarp above where the hunters were sleeping. The tarp tumbled, entangling the bear and the hunters. The bear was wounded by a shot from Vouch's hunting companion with a 45-caliber handgun. The bear then scrambled into a nearby tree. However, it wasn't good enough for the men that the bear was "only" wounded. Vouch wound up shooting and killing the bear. State officials estimated the black bear was 3 to 7 years old and weighed from 200 to 275 pounds.
Jon Rachael, state wildlife manager with the department, wasn't sure why the bear entered the camp. It's possible the bear was used to finding food from the many rafters that float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River each summer. It's also a possibility the bear may have never encountered people before. Out of curiosity, the bear chomped on what may have appeared to be fur. If the bear intended to kill Vouch, the attack would have been much more violent.
It has been a tough year for bears because of destructive wildfires and drought. Both have made for an exceptionally bad berry season, which is a key food source.
We humans must remember we have to share the world with animals. We are invading and destroying their habitat, leaving the animals homeless and often without food. Instead of resorting to automatically killing an animal when we are in their territory let's use alternative methods which will preserve both the animal's life and the human's life.
