Bear Attack in N.Y. Puzzles Experts
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ALBANY, N.Y. — With rabies ruled out, wildlife experts said Tuesday that they didn’t know why a black bear dragged away and killed a 5-month-old girl in the Catskills, but they urged people not to fear a repeat of the rare tragedy.
Black bears, normally timid creatures, have killed only 50 people in North America in the last century, and Esther Schwimmer was only the second to die in eastern U.S. forests.
In most cases, “bears are just big chickens,” said Lynn Rogers, director of the Wildlife Research Institute and the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minn. “They’ve survived by running without question. The littlest hound can chase the biggest bear up a tree.”
On Monday, however, a 155-pound male bear wandered into the resort town of Fallsburg, knocked Esther out of her stroller and carried her into nearby woods. The 3-year-old bear dropped the infant after people threw rocks at it, but the baby died shortly afterward of severe head and neck injuries.
Police shot and killed the bear, then had it tested for rabies. But the tests came back negative, said Ward Stone, wildlife pathologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. He said he would continue to test for other illnesses.
Stone said the bear might have thought the baby was food.
“Babies smell different. They have powders on them, milk on their clothes that may have been spilled,” he said.
Esther’s parents, Shmaya and Rachel Schwimmer, buried their baby Monday night after the attack.
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