Bear Euthanized in GSMNP After Body of Missing Hiker Found

[Venchka]

The bears are allowed to forage on the hogs.
Folks then wonder why the bears are aggressive around people.
Hmmmmmmmm....
Leave it to a Backpacker to carry a P-38. So that they can open a can of worms.
Wayne

[TNhiker]

as one of the reasons pigs are a problem is that

and another reason is that their reproduction rate...

they often have litters of 6 or 7 piglets who them have their own litters.........etc etc etc...

[scope]

Wait, do we know that the human victim's remains weren't ravaged by hogs?

[HooKooDooKu]

Wait, do we know that the human victim's remains weren't ravaged by hogs?

Hogs are scavengers too, they seem to eat just about anything they can find (part of what makes it so difficult to get rid of them all). So it is entirety possible that hogs were scavengers too... But the bear was caught with human dna on him. But that doesn't mean hogs might have found him first, and the bear, being the larger animal, took their claim away.

But I'm guessing since nothing was mentioned about hogs, there must not have been any obvious signs hogs were involved.

[TNhiker]

I would say it's safe to say the bear wasn't the only animal that scavenged on him...

as someone noted earlier---it was just meat after all....

and betting that there were a few different species....

however----the bear was the one who hung around and expressed aggressive behavior towards rangers....


one winter, I saw the carcass of a bear off the side of a trail and there were multiple different types of animals tracks all around it in the snow.....

[FreeGoldRush]

Are there any campsites in that area that were closed after the incident? Any of those "beware of aggressive bear" signs posted?

[TNhiker]

Are there any campsites in that area that were closed after the incident? Any of those "beware of aggressive bear" signs posted?

Not really...

he was found a half mile off rich mountain road, sorta near the boundary of the Park..

i do know they closed rich mountain road for a while (one of my reporters was there when they were shutting it down)...

not sure ire how long the road was closed nor if they hung aggressive bear signs....

[TNhiker]

Campsite 5 is roughly 2 ish miles from the road.....

thats not a heavily used nor sexy site so not sure if they have bear issues there or not..

[Ashepabst]

do we know how the guy died yet?

[TNhiker]

do we know how the guy died yet?

not as of now...

preliminary autopsy was inconclusive...........

[HooKooDooKu]

Campsite 5 is roughly 2 ish miles from the road.....
thats not a heavily used nor sexy site so not sure if they have bear issues there or not..

I didn't ever look at the closures website during this incident, but things that might have been closed while they tracked down the bear could have included:
* Indian Grave Trail
* RichMtn Trail
* Ace Gap Trail
* CS #5

... Now that I've typed all that up, let's just simply open the Temp Closure Page ...
and yea, as of yesterday, those sites were currently closed (plus CS#3). Not sure why since the bear has been euthanized... but I could see that they might still want the area closed down as a part of an investigation, as well as search for the possibility of more than one scavenger.