Black bear mauls woman in Frederick, MD

[Chive]

As the crow flies this happened about 5 miles from the AT. Sounds like a "wrong place at the wrong time" encounter. The mama bear who attacked was put down, leaving behind at least one cub that is ~50 lbs in size. Are those size cubs big enough to be independent this time of year?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...5d0_story.html

Select snippets from the article:

In an attack that a wildlife expert called “the rarest of the rare,” a 63-year-old woman in Maryland was mauled Wednesday by a black bear after she inadvertently came between the mama bear and its cubs in a driveway.

The bear is believed to have attacked the woman at least four times and bit her on the face, arms, legs and head, according to authorities with the Maryland Natural Resources Police. Her injuries are non life-threatening, and she was treated for a broken arm, cuts to her head and puncture wounds to her arms.

The attack happened around 9:20 p.m. in Middletown, Md., about 50 miles northwest of Washington in Frederick County. Police said the woman lives next door to her adult children and heard her children’s dog barking. The woman put her own dog on a leash and went next door to see why the other dog was barking.

Authorities said their experts tracked the bear and euthanized it. They found a 50-pound bear cub in a nearby tree. They believe that the bear cub’s mother attacked her. The cub was said to be healthy and was released.

[nsherry61]

. . . ~50 lbs in size. Are those size cubs big enough to be independent this time of year? . . .

To my knowledge, no. At least in the case of grizzlies, the cubs stay with their mom through their second winter and second summer before being chased away. This cub would be a first year cub, not a yearling. If black bears are similar to grizzlies, that cub would be with it's mother almost exactly one more year before it is ready to be fully independent.

[H I T C H]

This has been all over the local news. The woman's injuries are more severe than originally thought.
The cub that was tranquilized weighed 86 pounds, and wildlife officials deemed the cubs able to survive on their own.
This is the first documented account of a bear attack in Maryand in the last 70 some years since documentation of these such events began.