Criminal Probe Targets Scouts in Bear’s Death

A Huntington Beach Boy Scout troop is under criminal investigation in the alleged stoning death of a young bear during a camping trip to Yosemite National Park, park rangers said Friday.

But Scout leaders vehemently insist that they acted in self-defense.

Acting Chief Ranger Don Coelho said the 75-pound bear died about 10:30 Monday night at Tuolumne Meadows from “blunt force trauma,” and the initial investigation did not indicate that it was killed in self-defense.

“There does not appear to be a good reason for what they did,” Coelho said. “It looked like it had been stoned to death.”

But troop leaders Bob Woodard of Huntington Beach and Ron Roach of Fountain Valley said they were traumatized by the incident. The men said that the campsite had been terrorized throughout the night by groups of bears and that they acted in self-defense, following the directions of a park pamphlet that said to discourage marauding bears by throwing stones.

“We are devastated,” Roach said. “It was a freak accident.”

The men said that five times throughout the night, bears entered their campground, pulling at their backpacks, pulling food down from trees and pawing at canisters.

“We were afraid for ourselves and the boys,” Roach said. He said he and Woodard threw one rock each into a dark area where they thought they saw two bears approaching. They heard a thud, and the next morning they found a dead bear, he said.

“We were trying to scare the bears away,” Roach said.

“We feel really bad about it,” he added. “We were scared to death. Nobody slept that whole night. . . . Nobody grieves more for the bear than we do.”

The men said that on Thursday, they and two of the Scouts decided to go home and that they told the rangers on the way out what had happened. The rangers then issued citations to them.

Scott Gediman, a park spokesman, said it is possible the men acted in self-defense. But he said black bears usually are not aggressive. Eight boys and five adults were on the camping trip. They returned home Friday night.

Gediman said the bear was killed after a mother bear and her two offspring wandered into the area looking for food.

Rangers will “attempt to prove a case” of destruction of wildlife, Coelho said.

Federal law makes it a crime to kill animals in national parks except in self-defense. The offense is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and jail time.

Times wire services contributed to this story.