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From the Anchorage Daily News (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6738624p-6626281c.html):
Brown bear attack leaves Texas Boy Scout injured but relieved
'This boy's going to have bragging rights at school'
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: July 23rd, 2005
Last Modified: July 23rd, 2005 at 02:52 AM
A brown bear mauled a 15-year-old Boy Scout from Texas on Friday near Cooper Landing, Alaska State Troopers said. After undergoing surgery, the boy was listed in fair condition at an Anchorage hospital.
Alex Benson, who was on a six-day hike with his home state Scout troop, was working on his 50-mile badge hiking the Resurrection Pass Trail from Hope to Cooper Landing. Just half an hour from the end of the hike, he startled the brown bear on the trail and was bitten at least twice before the bear ran off. The boy was left with a shredded arm and puncture wounds in his leg.
Benson, interviewed at his hospital bed, described the bear, which also swatted at the teenager while he was on the ground, as twice his size.
Benson was among two dozen 13- to 16-year-old boys and their fathers who left Texas last week for the Boy Scout trip to Alaska. Trip leader and former Alaska resident Paul Fletcher planned the hike for Troop 262 of Plano, Texas, near Dallas. He schooled the boys and adults on bear safety, and three fathers carried handguns and four boys carried bear spray on the trek.
The plan was to walk the 40-mile Resurrection Pass Trail, with side hikes to complete the 50-mile badge requirement.
Resurrection Pass Trail on the Kenai Peninsula is bear country. The Russian River, where a brutal mauling occurred two years ago, is about five miles away. The Scouts said they had spotted several bears on the hills they were passing in previous days -- always at a safe distance though.
Thursday morning, the men and boys were split into three groups, with Benson in a group of four that was leading by several hours. The terrain was thick with brush, and the trail narrowed to single file with quick turns that made seeing just a short distance in front difficult, according to interviews with scouts.
Around 9:30 a.m., Benson was in the lead with two boys and an adult immediately behind. The weather was chilly and the boys were excited to be close to the finish. Benson later told friends he was daydreaming of his mother's pumpkin bread, Chicken McNuggets and pizza.
Despite their bear-awareness training, which emphasized that the hikers make noise, Mikey McFatter, 13, said the group was silent. The four were spaced around seven paces behind each other. McFatter, in a telephone interview, said he couldn't hear his father behind him or his friend in front of him.
Then Benson turned a corner and nearly fell on top of the bear. "I think I caught it going to the bathroom," Benson said.
He doesn't remember what the bear bit first -- his leg or his arm. But he remembers its head right next to his, its teeth in him, and it thrashing. He remembers being on his stomach, with his backpack taking the brunt of the attack.
McFatter saw the bear leap onto his friend's backpack and rip the sleeping bag. Benson screamed for help and put his hands and legs up to shield himself.
McFatter and Aaron Chapman, 15, screamed, "Bear!" and Mike McFatter, Mikey's father, fired into the air with his .45-caliber handgun.
Whether spooked by the boy's screaming, the gunshot or its own instincts to get out of there, the bear quickly retreated down the trail. McFatter shot a second and third round into the air. The attack, the Scouts said, lasted less than 10 seconds.
Benson was on the ground when Mike McFatter got to him. He was ashen, shaking and crying. Benson's sleeping bag was shredded, cords were ripped. Fletcher, who arrived at the attack site later, said, "His arm was like a hunk of meat."
But, Chapman said, his tears were also of joy. "He was so happy to still be alive. He was really happy."
Chapman, an Eagle Scout, took off his shirt and applied a tourniquet to Benson's arm and called 911 on his cell phone.
Cooper Landing Volunteer Ambulance responded, and Benson was carried out on a stretcher the remaining two miles of the trail. Also on scene were the Cooper Landing Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service officers and Alaska state troopers.
Troopers believe the bear was an adult.
"The bear attacked quickly," troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said. Its behavior, he said, was consistent with a surprised bear. "It was doing what bears are supposed to do. There is no reason to kill it," he said, in explaining the decision to not go after the bear.
Fletcher said Benson is expected to be out of the hospital by early next week.
When back in Texas, Fletcher said, "this boy's going to have bragging rights at school."
Brown bear attack leaves Texas Boy Scout injured but relieved
'This boy's going to have bragging rights at school'
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: July 23rd, 2005
Last Modified: July 23rd, 2005 at 02:52 AM
A brown bear mauled a 15-year-old Boy Scout from Texas on Friday near Cooper Landing, Alaska State Troopers said. After undergoing surgery, the boy was listed in fair condition at an Anchorage hospital.
Alex Benson, who was on a six-day hike with his home state Scout troop, was working on his 50-mile badge hiking the Resurrection Pass Trail from Hope to Cooper Landing. Just half an hour from the end of the hike, he startled the brown bear on the trail and was bitten at least twice before the bear ran off. The boy was left with a shredded arm and puncture wounds in his leg.
Benson, interviewed at his hospital bed, described the bear, which also swatted at the teenager while he was on the ground, as twice his size.
Benson was among two dozen 13- to 16-year-old boys and their fathers who left Texas last week for the Boy Scout trip to Alaska. Trip leader and former Alaska resident Paul Fletcher planned the hike for Troop 262 of Plano, Texas, near Dallas. He schooled the boys and adults on bear safety, and three fathers carried handguns and four boys carried bear spray on the trek.
The plan was to walk the 40-mile Resurrection Pass Trail, with side hikes to complete the 50-mile badge requirement.
Resurrection Pass Trail on the Kenai Peninsula is bear country. The Russian River, where a brutal mauling occurred two years ago, is about five miles away. The Scouts said they had spotted several bears on the hills they were passing in previous days -- always at a safe distance though.
Thursday morning, the men and boys were split into three groups, with Benson in a group of four that was leading by several hours. The terrain was thick with brush, and the trail narrowed to single file with quick turns that made seeing just a short distance in front difficult, according to interviews with scouts.
Around 9:30 a.m., Benson was in the lead with two boys and an adult immediately behind. The weather was chilly and the boys were excited to be close to the finish. Benson later told friends he was daydreaming of his mother's pumpkin bread, Chicken McNuggets and pizza.
Despite their bear-awareness training, which emphasized that the hikers make noise, Mikey McFatter, 13, said the group was silent. The four were spaced around seven paces behind each other. McFatter, in a telephone interview, said he couldn't hear his father behind him or his friend in front of him.
Then Benson turned a corner and nearly fell on top of the bear. "I think I caught it going to the bathroom," Benson said.
He doesn't remember what the bear bit first -- his leg or his arm. But he remembers its head right next to his, its teeth in him, and it thrashing. He remembers being on his stomach, with his backpack taking the brunt of the attack.
McFatter saw the bear leap onto his friend's backpack and rip the sleeping bag. Benson screamed for help and put his hands and legs up to shield himself.
McFatter and Aaron Chapman, 15, screamed, "Bear!" and Mike McFatter, Mikey's father, fired into the air with his .45-caliber handgun.
Whether spooked by the boy's screaming, the gunshot or its own instincts to get out of there, the bear quickly retreated down the trail. McFatter shot a second and third round into the air. The attack, the Scouts said, lasted less than 10 seconds.
Benson was on the ground when Mike McFatter got to him. He was ashen, shaking and crying. Benson's sleeping bag was shredded, cords were ripped. Fletcher, who arrived at the attack site later, said, "His arm was like a hunk of meat."
But, Chapman said, his tears were also of joy. "He was so happy to still be alive. He was really happy."
Chapman, an Eagle Scout, took off his shirt and applied a tourniquet to Benson's arm and called 911 on his cell phone.
Cooper Landing Volunteer Ambulance responded, and Benson was carried out on a stretcher the remaining two miles of the trail. Also on scene were the Cooper Landing Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service officers and Alaska state troopers.
Troopers believe the bear was an adult.
"The bear attacked quickly," troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said. Its behavior, he said, was consistent with a surprised bear. "It was doing what bears are supposed to do. There is no reason to kill it," he said, in explaining the decision to not go after the bear.
Fletcher said Benson is expected to be out of the hospital by early next week.
When back in Texas, Fletcher said, "this boy's going to have bragging rights at school."
