Prudence in the Great Outdoors : Bear’s attacks on campers are grim reminders of need for simple caution

Condominiums are driving out cougars in Southern California, but camping still carries at least some risk of encountering dangerous wildlife. The mauling of three boys, apparently by the same bear, should remind lovers of the outdoors that they share the wild with animals that can turn vicious and that, always, caution is necessary.

A study of cougars that started after two children were attacked in an Orange County park in 1986 has found that these big cats face annihilation in Southern California.

Trackers followed cougars, or mountain lions, on foot and from the air. They also performed monitoring through radio transmitters on collars that were put on cougars when the animals were temporarily subdued.

The study concluded that development is depriving the cat of the large expanses it needs to hunt and survive. Wildlife biologists noted that the animal is thriving elsewhere in California, but in this region its days appear to be numbered.

Cougars, like bears, are usually easily scared off and are not given to attacking humans. But in campgrounds along the road to Big Bear Lake last week, a bear made two attacks days apart that sent three victims to the hospital. A tracker later fatally shot the suspected attacker and a companion bear.

The attacks prompted wildlife experts to repeat warnings that some campers may have forgotten or ignored. One is to keep food where a bear can’t reach it. State Fish and Game Department officials said that in the first attack they found peanut butter sandwiches and apple cores at the campsite.

Why the bear made the second attack, wounding two Boy Scouts, is unclear. It ripped a four-by-five-inch piece of scalp from Bobby Clark, 12, of Fullerton. It took a surgeon 3 1/2 hours to repair the wound. Yet the next day the boy was able to joke about his ordeal and, remarkably, say he didn’t hold anything against the bears who invaded the campground. “They were only doing what’s natural,” he said. Those common-sense words add up to a warning, one worth heeding when going forth to experience nature.