Man injured in 3rd bear attack in Payson area(AZ)

PAYSON, AZ - Officials say a Tempe man was injured in a bear attack outside Payson Sunday morning.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department says this is the third bear incident in the area within a month.

Officials said the 30-year-old man was air-lifted to a Scottsdale hospital with lacerations and bite wounds to his head and arm and possibly his legs.

"He had a large spot on the right side of his head that was just a mess, but he was alert and talking which was amazing," said Carly Stoltenberg, a Gilbert resident who saw the black bear shortly before it attacked the man.

Witnesses say the bear crushed the man's tent around 4:45 a.m.

"It was chaos," said Stoltenberg who was camping nearby when the bear attack happened. "It didn't seem real."

The man's fiancée and a one-year-old child were able to escape unharmed and warn other campers in the area.

Stoltenberg tells ABC15 her husband grabbed his gun and another man with him fired several shots at the bear at close range. The bear left the area and Stoltenberg says it's unlikely the bear was hit by any of the bullets.

U.S. Forest personnel evacuated the campground and wildlife officers from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services are currently searching for the bear.

Another Gilbert resident who was camping with the Stoltenbergs woke up to the bear ripping her tent.

"I didn't hear him, I didn't hear him at all, but I remember the rip definitely," said Kim Bress. "I grabbed my son and my husband stood up yelling at the bear and it was like the bear just kind of looked at us, stood up, then others managed to chase him away."

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The bear left the area and Stoltenberg says it's unlikely the bear was hit by any of the bullets.

Well thats just piss poor shooting

Back in the mid 80's I helped out with bear depredation problems in that area. In almost every case the problem was caused by people feeding the bears. Someone sets up in one of the camp grounds and sees a bear. Next thing they are feeding the bear to get pictures. After a couple days the bear knows he gets free food at camp lot 43 at 4:30pm every day. Campers pull out and next guy moves in. Next day 4:30 bear shows up, huh, food has been moved to over on some picnic tables. Now you have a problem bear. I remember one guy had a bear chase his kids into a motor home. He claimed he hadn't filled up a wash pan full of food scraps staked 50 feet from his front door.