A black bear mauled a man over the weekend at an Alaskan campground. It is believed that the animal was provoked. Spokesman Ken Marsh of the state Department of Fish and Game said the bear was "pretty much goaded" into attacking because the man had fed it meat from a barbecue.
Officials say the man threw the bear a piece of the barbecued meat while on a bike ride near Eklutna Lake Campground. The bear ate the meat, and when the man offered it another piece, it began to attack. "That's when it kind of went ballistic," Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said. The man was discovered by park rangers after the mauling while he was washing his wounds at the campground. He was treated at a hospital in Anchorage for puncture wounds and scratches to his jaw and back.
According to officials, the man - whose name has not been released, as he could face charges of illegally feeding wildlife - was under the influence of alcohol before he went on his bike ride during a church picnic.
Authorities are still trying to determine what happened. There were no witnesses to the mauling and the man struggled to describe the incident clearly when a trooper questioned him at the hospital. According to Marsh, a state biologist sent to the scene was unable to locate the bear. Biologists strongly advise people never to feed wild animals anything.
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