Tragic Story of a 16 Year Old Camper, 2 Bear and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Continues.

In a very sad turn of events, DNA evidence has confirmed that the bear that was trapped and destroyed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) rangers was in fact not the black bear that attacked and mauled a 16 year old camper.

This does not mean that the rangers in the field did anything wrong by destroying the bear that was not responsible for the attack. They made the best decision possible based upon the facts at hand at that minute and as you will see later, had no other choice.

This tragic story started at around 10:30 on the night of June 6th 2015 when 16 year old Gabriel Alexander from Ohio was attacked by a black bear while he was sleeping near his father Greg Alexander in backcountry campsite 84 in the Hazel Creek North Carolina area of the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Gabriel suffered significant injuries from the attack and spent 5 days in Mission Hospital in Asheville NC. The amazing story including the heroic struggle he and his father had after the attack can be read about here.

At daybreak on June 7th 2015 National Park Rangers entered the Hazel Creek area by boat and started closing campsite 84 as well as all of the surrounding campsites and hiking trails since a dangerous bear was in the area.

Rangers and wildlife officers worked on gathering as much forensic evidence as possible while they were retrieving personal belongings left at the site.

While doing so they found drag marks made by the bear as it dragged Gabriel as well as blood, saliva and hair from the bear and blood and hair from the victim.

Rangers from the GSMNP set up a culvert trap (similar to the photograph below) which is a metal tube with a sliding door in order to trap the offending bear if it came back.

On June 8th just before sunset park wildlife biologists encountered a bear that was suspected in the attack near campsite 84 and shot at it a number of times.

The bear ran off after being shot at and the wildlife rangers were unable to successfully track the potentially wounded bear. The problems they encountered when attempting to track the bear included that fact it was getting dark and that a severe thunderstorm with heavy rainfall was taking place.

Upon returning to campsite 84 on the morning of June 9th, 2015, rangers found a bear caught in the trap they set on June 7th. The trapped bear was tranquilized and following that euthanized with an injection of Potassium Chloride.

The captured male bear was examined and did not show any signs of a recent bullet wound. After DNA samples were taken from the dead bear it was ”recycled” into the forest, the same way most other wildlife carcasses are in the GSMNP.

Since so much was at stake and there was no way to know if they destroyed the right bear until DNA the evidence comes back from the lab proving it, wildlife rangers had to continue searching the area for any other aggressive bear as well as looking for any bear that they may have shot.

During the 9th while searching the area, a spent bullet from a rifle with bear hair still on it was found. It was collected and sent to the same lab as the other DNA samples.

How a bullet was found without specifically looking with a metal detector, especially after there was a "severe thunderstorm with heavy rainfall" which should have washed away most any blood trail is beyond me.

On June 9th the Great Smoky Mountains national park spokesperson released an official statement saying that rangers have trapped and then euthanized a bear that morning and that DNA samples were sent to the lab to determine if it was the correct bear. No mention was ever made of another bear being shot at or a bullet with bear hair on it was found.

The DNA samples sent out were analyzed by the Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory which is part of the East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania which uses genotyping equipment that is maintained in a controlled and secure environment.

This lab provides services for both forensics and research of wildlife populations. The lab is able to determine accurately and in a very timely manner among other things such as species and sex variations between DNA samples or lack of variations proving that 2 or more DNA samples are from the same animal or not.

Based upon DNA samples collected from the scene of the attack, the euthanized bear and the bullet which struck and injured a bear, the following has been determined.

1. The bear responsible for the attack was a male.
2. The bear trapped and euthanized (male) is not the bear responsible for the attack.
3. The bear rangers shot that got away (male) may be responsible for the attack.

According to the Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory, there was an insufficient sample size of bear DNA from the bullet to make an exact determination if it was in fact it was DNA from the bear that attacked the camper. They did give an estimation that the bear that was shot is a 65% match to the attacking bear.

Officially ”While it is likely that the bear shot was the same involved in the attack, it cannot be confirmed without a better DNA sample”. Considering bear populations in the Hazel Creek area would not have as diverse a genetic makeup as humans that would populate an area of that size, a 65% determination as to a ”match” for a bear is not as positive as it sounds as if it was a human.

Wildlife biologists for the GSMNP are taking the stance that they believe that the bear that they shot is likely dead. They believe this as there has been no additional bear activity at campsite 84 since June 8 despite ”extensive search efforts”.

Bear in mind that the park service does not use tracking or cadaver dogs when it comes to wildlife issues or wildlife management such as hunting for invasive species. Scientists with specially trained dogs are no longer granted permits to search for panther in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which was allowed for years.

Also bear in mind that the normal home range for a male black bear is from 8 to 60 square miles, some range as many as 100 square miles. Obviously a single campsite in the forest is a minuscule part of the the normal range of a black bear and a being shot at and injured could force a bear to move elsewhere possibly outside its normal territorial range.

Temporary closures still remain in effect for backcountry sites in the area as well as all the surrounding hiking trails. Great Smoky Mountains national park wildlife officers are still searching and investigating and Park Managers will assess later this week whether it would be "reasonably safe" to end the closures.

The GSMNP announced the DNA results on June 23rd and stated the ability of using DNA was ”the first time in the history of managing bear populations in the park where wildlife biologists have had access to a lab willing and capable of processing DNA samples in a timely enough manner to be of use in a bear attack case”. This is a huge leap forward in public safety.

”Due to the extreme seriousness of the bear attack and threat to human safety, we responded swiftly to secure the safety of hikers in the backcountry,” said Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash. ”Though extremely rare and regrettable, we recognize that an uninvolved bear was euthanized through this process and we will be examining new procedures that may allow us to quickly use DNA analysis to correctly identify bears responsible for predatory attacks in the future.”

What does it all mean?

1) Not even the bear attack victim wanted to have any bear destroyed. He acknowledged it had to be done to the offending bear in order to protect other humans. The fact that the wrong bear was put down is sad, but mistakes are made and we should be glad to know with certainty when either the right or the wrong animals is destroyed.

With circumstantial evidence, if we can draw fast conclusions without cold hard indisputable facts, we are going to make mistakes. This time it was a bears life. It could have been a humans if we got the wrong bear and thought the area was safe.

2) Even skilled marksman that shoots at wildlife for a living can miss putting down a large target with a rifle - with more than one shot. Remember this when someone wants to ”protect you from wildlife” with a small caliber handgun rather than a can of bear spray.

3) You can do everything right as these campers did in the backcountry and yet something can go horribly wrong. If both campers had bear spray, the injuries may have been lessened. If the campers used a portable electric fence designed for camping, the bear would have never made contact with either camper.

4) Dogs need to be used more often in situations such as this. If the bear that was shot was in fact killed or wounded, a trained dog would have found it. I have some doubts as to if the bear is dead for sure unless there are more facts that were not released.

5) Numerous suggestions have been made that the trapped bear and future suspected offenders should have been held in some form of captivity until it was proven whether it was the bear that attacked someone or not. While good intentioned this is not something that will work for a few reasons:

• Not all offending animals will end up being captured live.
• There are no facilities in the park to hold wildlife for days or even weeks.
• Even if such a faculty is made, how do you release an animal held and fed by humans back into the world without them acclimated to humans?
  Presently captured problem bears are purposely harassed humanly for up to hours (not physically) so that when they are released they avoid humans.

6) In 2013 hunters in North Carolina killed 2,991 black bear. So far for 2015 the Great Smoky Mountains national park can confirm 2 bear were killed by the park and they believe another was killed as well. I think these numbers speak for themselves.

7) A bear was shot at and hit was left out of previous reports and conversations prior to the release of the DNA results. Press releases are exempt from guidelines for quality and accuracy required for organizational, natural, cultural resource and budget information as laid out in DIRECTOR’S ORDER #11B: Information Quality – Ensuring Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Used and Disseminated by the National Park Service. If you think this is wrong, you are not alone.

This story will be continue to be updated.
Last updated on 6/24/2105 11:42am with a new timeline

Black Bear information for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Camping Conditions, Bear Warnings and Bear Closures in the GSMNP

Hiking Conditions, Bear Warnings and Bear Closures on GSMNP Trails

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Official Statements

Recent Bear attacks in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

• Bear Attacks Camper at Campsite 84 Hazel Creek NC 6/7/2015
• Hiker bitten by black bear at Laurel Falls Hiking Trail TN 5/17/2010
• Child attacked by black bear at Rainbow Falls Hiking Trail TN 8/12/2008
• Woman Killed by 2 black bear at Little River Hiking Trail TN 5/21/2000

Black Bear Attacks Camper in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Unprovoked black bear attacks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) are very rare, especially when the person who was attacked was so even though they were following all the recommended black bear safety rules.

Unfortunately for a 16 year old boy Gabriel Alexander from Ohio camping with his father Greg Alexander in a primitive backcountry campsite in the Hazel Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains national park, rare doesn’t mean never.

The site where the ”bear incident” occurred is backcountry campsite 84 also known as Sugar Fork which has a capacity of 6 campers and is located 4.5 miles North from the shoreline of Fontana Lake near Hazel Creek in North Carolina.

At around 10:30 last night the black bear attack in the GSMNP occurred as the son Gabriel Alexander was sleeping in his hammock and his father Greg, the only other camper in the campsite, was sleeping in his own hammock about 10 feet away.

Awakened from a deep sleep by intense pain in his scalp, the bear attack victim never knew what was attacking him and thought perhaps it was a dog. He received multiple serious injuries including severe lacerations to his head as the bear violently pulled him from his hammock and dragged him screaming in the campsite toward the bushes.

While Gabriel Alexander was being attacked by the bear, his father woke up when he heard his son screaming for help. There was just enough moonlight so he could see the bear was dragging his son across the ground by his head.

Barefoot, Gregg tried kicking the bear which had no effect on him. He then jumped on the bears back and started punching the bear in the face at which point the bear finally let go of Gabriel. The bear then backed off a few paces and then moved again towards father and son. Being hit hard at least once with a rock thrown by the father the bear finally moved further away but could be heard circling the two in the brush.

After being attacked and injured by the black bear, the victim and his father quickly packed a few things and bravely hiked the approximately 3-1/2 miles in the dark down the Hazel Creek Hiking Trail to the next backcountry campsite number 86 where they were lucky enough to find campers that had a boat at shore of the lake close by.

After the Father Greg, son Gabriel and other campers made it down to shore, they took a boat ride in the dark across Fontana Lake to the Cable Cove boat dock where Graham County Rescue EMS transported them at about 3:00 am to a landing zone where they were then flown by Mountain Area Medical Airlift to Mission Hospital in Asheville NC.

The 16 year old victim remained conscious throughout the entire bear attack and remains in the ICU at Mission Hospital where he is in stable condition at this time and was able to get up and walk around Monday afternoon.

The father and his son were hiking and camping for days and had already completed 40 miles into what was going to be a 50-mile backpacking trip. All of their food, equipment and packs were correctly stored by being hung up on bear safe aerial food storage cables so as not to attract wildlife to an easy meal.

Proper storage of food, trash and camping items great reduces the number and severity bear encounters if bear cannot receive any rewards of human food. While you may do everything correctly during your stay in a campsite, bear or other wildlife may be habituated by other less careful campers before your arrival.

Though there were other issues in the past year in that area, there were no prior black bear problems reported in the past few days at that backcountry site or at ones close by promoting any sort of warning. There have been black bear issues above that campsite at the Derrick Knob Shelter on the Appalachian Trail which may be related to the same bear.

There are reports that in the same campsite last fall, a black bear grabbed a chunk of an air mattress from underneath a camper. Other campers have claimed at around the same time they had water bottles clawed at in Bone Valley, and a bottle of liquid soap with a strong scent was bitten into at Hazel Creek.

Park rangers and wildlife biologists used boats and then have hiked into the campsite where the bear attack occurred as well as surrounding campsites to investigate the attack and clear the area of other campers and hikers until it is safe again for public use.

If they can determine which of the parks many black bears initiated the attack, the animal will be destroyed. Due to extensive forensic evidence collected, if the bear is found in short period of time, national park officials can be sure they did in fact get the right animal or not after the bears necropsy.

Even though Gabriel, a straight-A student, track athlete and member of the marching band at his high school went through a terrible ordeal due to the aggression of this a predatory bear, he expressed mixed feelings about the national parks protocol to put down such an animal. While he did not want the bear to have to be euthanized, he also did not want anyone else to go through what he has.

For now the following backcountry campsites are closed: 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, and 88 and the following hiking trails are closed to all use until further notice: Bone Valley Trail, Cold Spring Gap Trail, Hazel Creek Trail and Jenkins Ridge Trail. As a precaution Derrick Knob shelter along the Appalachian Trail has also been closed to camping and there is a park representative there right now.

Our new park superintendent Cassius Cash stated ”While incidents with bears are rare, we ask park visitors to take necessary precautions while hiking in bear country and comply with all backcountry closures,” and went on to say ”The safety of our visitors is our number one priority.”

Other recent bear attacks that occurred around the United States this month were a 55 year old hunter in New Mexico who suffered deep flesh wounds from scratches on his chest and a bite to his leg by a black bear who was startled by him, and 2 people camping in Colorado who were bitten by a bear one of which was first tackled by a bear which then started biting a him in the back of the neck and head.

Black Bear information for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Camping Conditions, Bear Warnings and Bear Closures in the GSMNP

Hiking Conditions, Bear Warnings and Bear Closures on GSMNP Trails

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Official Statements

Recent Bear attacks in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

• Bear Attacks Camper at Campsite 84 Hazel Creek NC 6/7/2015
• Hiker bitten by black bear at Laurel Falls Hiking Trail TN 5/17/2010
• Child attacked by black bear at Rainbow Falls Hiking Trail TN 8/12/2008
• Woman Killed by 2 black bear at Little River Hiking Trail TN 5/21/2000

Update 6/7/2015 7:43 pm
At 7:32 this evening there was a report made of numerous people being chased by an aggressive black bear, one of which was a women claiming she was chased for a mile on the popular Laurel Falls Hiking Trail between the Sugarlands and Elkmont.

This hiking trail is already under an aggressive Bear Warning as well as Mount LeConte.

Update 6/9/2015 1:43 pm
It is believed that the bear that attacked Gabriel Alexander has been captured by park service personnel. We are awaiting positive identification at this time.

Update 6/9/2015 5:38 pm
Official park statement in regard to the bear captured this morning:

This morning, we captured, tranquilized, and humanely euthanized a male bear with potassium chloride at Campsite 84. Based on our experience and training, the bear exhibited the behavior pattern we expected. It returned directly to the site, within feet of where Alexander's hammock was strung. Due to the seriousness of the attack, our staff acted swiftly and did not take any chances.

We have collected bear hair and blood samples from the night of the attack and also this bear. Samples have been sent to the lab for DNA analysis and we expect that report to come back within a couple of weeks.

The trails and campsites will remain closed. There is always a chance that we did not get the right bear and human safety is our number one concern. Our staff remains on scene to continuing monitoring the site for bear activity.

Dana Soehn
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Management Assistant/Public Affairs

Update 6/9/2015 8:12 pm
Hopes are that Gabriel can leave the hospital and head back home to Ohio on Wednesday where after some plastic surgery he is expected to make a full recovery. The bear attack left him with deep gashes on his scalp and face and a wound near his mouth.

Update 6/23/2105 9:04 pm
DNA proves bear euthanized was innocent and another bear was shot.

Last chance to hike and bike the Cades Cove Loop without traffic!

Tomorrow morning will be the last chance in 2008 to hike or bike the 11 mile long Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park during the morning without any automobile or motorcycle traffic until 10:00 am.

Cades Cove is the jewel of the Smokies and the best time to be there is early in the morning or right before sunset. From late spring until late September the national park service closes Cades Cove to motor vehicles on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10 am.

Cades Cove at sunrise is magical. The beauty and peace of the Cove is breathtaking and your chance of seeing plenty of deer, wild turkey, bear and even coyote is high.

While I love biking in Cades Cove, my favorite activity is walking the loop and since our weather is quite dry this year in the Smokies due to our extended drought I can do so with sneakers as there is no water running across to loop road.

Anyone wishing to hike with me should meet me at the shelter in the parking area near the entrance to Cades Cove. Sunrise is at around 7:00 am so I have to start by no latter than 6:45 in order to catch the sunrise coming up over Thunderhead Mountain.

Even taking our time, the first cars won't pass us until after the visitors center in the back end of Cades Cove.

Park Service denies reports that an aggressive black bear was shot near Cades Cove

Although 3 separate hikers claimed that they were told by a ranger that an aggressive black bear was shot and killed near Great Smoky Mountains national park backcountry campsite 10, officials from the national park service deny the hikers accounts.

According to the park service they are still looking for a bear that caused damage to the Mt. Collins shelter but as of yet have been unsuccessful in their quest to find the problem black bear.

Backcountry campsite 10 is on the Russell Field Trail has been closed for extended time due to aggressive bear behavior. The Russell Field Trails major trailhead Anthony Creek Trail starts less than 1-1/2 miles downhill in the back end of the Cades Cove Picnic Area near the Cades Cove Campgrounds.

Reports of another Aggressive Bear Shot in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Unconfirmed reports came in of a black bear that was shot and killed by a national park service ranger after it acted aggressively near backcountry campsite 10 on Russell Field Trail.

3 separate hikers along the Appalachian Trail made identical claims that a National Park Service Ranger told them that a black bear started acting aggressively toward the ranger who shot and killed the bear near the backcountry campsite which has been closed for a few weeks.

If correct, this occurrence of yet another aggressive black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park took place less than 2 miles from where I was personally stalked by a medium sized black bear.

While the wild boars have been more brazen than ever before in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, it unfortunately seems as though the black bear might be as well.

Even with the latest incidents people planning on coming to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park must understand that is and extremely safe place to recreate and most serious injuries or deaths are a result of car accidents and drowning.

Tick bites and yellow jacket stings should be for more of a concern for backcountry hikers and campers than an attack by a wild animal. By following basic camping and hiking safety rules you will protect the environment, the wildlife that inhabits the park and everyone in your group.

Further information and confirmation to follow.

National Park Service will start a prescribed burn in Cataloochee North Carolina section of the National Park February 24th 2007

I would suggest if you are visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this weekend that you avoid the Cataloochee NC area because of the smoke, partial road closures, fire fighting equipment and fire personal needed to help restore both pine and Oak woodlands.

Fire can pose a huge danger to the parks inhabitants, historical building, neighboring farms and homes because an uncontrolled fire in the wild can spread like - well - wildfire. Because of this National Parks and state parks and forests have been suppressing forest fires for years.

Unfortunately a natural environment needs fires to maintain a healthy balance and the forests, valleys, fields and woodlands of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is no exception.

Fires can clear old vegetation, open tree canopies to allow more sunlight to reach the forest floor allowing more bio diversity. Some plants such as some pine trees have seeds that won't germinate unless exposed to heat created by fire. Different species of trees and bushes have different flammability factors and thus a fast burning fire may burn and kill some plants while other plants which are more fire tolerant may not be affected.

Since natural and accidental forest fires have been suppressed for more than 60 years in the Smoky Mountains, some species of tress such as maple trees which have a low fire tolerance, have spread quickly, dominated habitats and have taken over what was traditionally a xeric oak forest community in the Smokies. Along with the black oak, scarlet oak, and chestnut oaks a fire tolerant xeric oak forest community also has hickory trees a staple wood of locally made Smoky Mountains furniture.

The national park service is planning to burn a 530 acre area in the forest of the Cataloochee Valley this weekend in an effort to help in the restoration of both pine and oak woodlands. Oak woodlands are crucial to the survival of black bears in the Smokies as their diet largely consists of acorns and bears commonly use oak trees in order to den. The new habitat and additional forage created by this prescribed burn will also benefit the Elk that have been introduced into the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Surprisingly this is not the first time that this area has been intentionally burned by the NPS. The same area had a prescribed burn treatment in April of 2004 and more treatments will be needed in order to completely restore the xeric oak forest habitat.

In order to help keep the fire under control that area where the prescribed burn is to take place is bordered an established fire control line, 2 wet drainages, a road, and grassy meadowland all of which borders the open meadows of Cataloochee at the western end of the Cataloochee Valley.

You will also find up to 25 Park firefighters and 2 fire engines will be in the area to keep the fire under control with some fire personnel helping to escort hikers to trails that remain open.

Still insist on going to Cataloochee NC this weekend?

The following areas will be closed:

• The road from Shanty Branch to the Rough Fork Trailhead in Cataloochee Valley
• The Hiram Caldwell Cemetery

The following will remain open:

• Rough Fork Trail
• Big Fork Ridge Trail
• Dock Caldwell Cemetery (E of Shanty Branch)

My suggestion is stay away from this section of the GSMNP and let the National Park Service do their job. There is plenty to see and do in other sections of the park.