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Black Bear Mauls Florida Woman, Drags Her Out of Garage
Yahoo ^ | 4-13-2014 | LIZ FIELDS

The hunt is on today for a black bear who mauled a woman at her home in an upscale central Florida neighborhood, leaving her with injuries to her face, legs and torso and requiring her to get 40 stitches to the head.

Terri Frana of Lake Mary, Fla., went to her garage Saturday evening to grab bicycles for her children to ride down to their neighbor's house when the attack happened, according to her husband, Frank Frana.

As soon as the children left, Frana, 45, saw two bears in the driveway. She walked to the patio area where there were five bears eating trash that they had pulled out of the garage, her husband said.

"The bear got up on [its] hind legs and started to maul her, opened its jaws and put her head in the mouth and dragged her towards the woods," Frank Frana said. "Somehow she was able to pull herself out."

"The bears were various sizes so we think it's probably cubs of different maturity and perhaps a mama bear," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said there was at least one bear involved in the attack but couldn't corroborate the report that there had been five bears.

Frana managed to get inside the house, said her husband. Her son found her collapsed in the living room and called 911. She was then taken to a local hospital where she was treated for at least three bear bites and several cuts all over her body.

Frana was released from the hospital Sunday morning and is recovering at home, her husband said.


(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...

They shot 4 bears last night.

This is about 3-4 miles from where I live.

Say Larry, I was wondering if you had an opinion on why the attack happened?

Reason for four bears near your place? Lots of bear food means lots of bears? Not enough food means aggressive bears? New residential developments in bear habitat?

I don't know a thing about Florida or black bears so for no good reason I find it odd or interesting or something when people get mauled by bears at Disneyworld.

Didn't this happen fairly recently near you Larry? I recall you posting something about a separate incident.

Gentlemen:

This was a new "attack". It happened over the weekend. This incident was about 3-4 miles north of me. There was a separate incident a few months ago where a woman was attacked at night while walking her dogs. The older incident occurred 1-2 miles south of where I live.

There are a lot of bears in the area in general. There can be a lot of natural food (acorns, berries, etc.). Obviously, this attracts bears. We, unfortunately, had a horrible year for acorn production which make the bears look for alternative food sources.

We also have a lot of idiots that live in the general area that are completely clueless to the wildlife in our neighborhoods. Some of these idiots feed the bears. We have a saying around here. " A fed bear is a dead bear." Others can't figure out, even after repeated incidents, that you can't put your garbage out the night before unless you want bears in it. I have seen garbage strewn all over yards MANY times. Other people who are a little more aware sometimes leave their garbage cans in the garage to keep then away from the bears. Sometimes these same people leave their garage doors open intentionally or otherwise.

In the most recent incident, the homeowners had the garbage cans in the garage but left the garage door open. The woman was concerned as she had just seen some bears and her kids were at a neighbors house riding bicycles. She walked into the garage and she was attacked. Apparently, there were 5 bears.

My GUESS is that she startled the bears and unintentionally invaded their space. I suspect there was a mother with her young. The combination got her hammered.

Last year, for reasons I do not understand, we had acorns left in the trees up high MONTHS after they had all fallen under normal circumstances. The bears invaded. They were everywhere. I had them leave their calling cards in my fountain several times. I saw as many as 8 a day for about 6 weeks. It could be unnerving. One night I was running. I stopped before crossing a street as a car was coming. I heard a noise above me. Less than 10 feet above me was a bear in the tree I was standing under.

Last night, 4 bears were shot in the victims neighborhood. One, walked aggressively right up to the game wardens. Not a good move.

"no fear" I'll bet means they've been fed by stupid people ! Disney mentality.

Sounds like it time open a season on bears in FL

It has been time for a long time.

Sorry Larry I know I could look this up but.... Is there a season on Black bears in FL?

read the comments section. some really interesting ones there.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Sorry Larry I know I could look this up but.... Is there a season on Black bears in FL?

No, there has not been one for years.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Sorry Larry I know I could look this up but.... Is there a season on Black bears in FL?

No, there has not been one for years.

Obviously it is past time to have legal hunting of bears in your area.

There are so many at one of my leases that I see them virtually every time I sit in a stand.

The news this morning said they killed 8 bears in that subdivision .

Any hunting will not affect the suburban bears. Hunting will take place if allowed on large tracts of land a long way from this area. I see bears all the time. They are harmless unless you corner them. The woman's story originally was that all 5 bears attacked her. In the neighborhood near me, they have been hand feeding these bears. Leave the damn things alone and use some sense. But this is Florida after all and the rest of you send us your wretched refuse.

Jeff

quote:

Leave the damn things alone and use some sense

Too many people don't understand this. Wild animals are NOT PETS!!!

but they're so cute