Outdoor News Daily

A 250-pound male black bear was caught and killed early Monday at the Sandia Mountains picnic ground where a young woman was attacked early Sunday morning, the Department of Game and Fish announced today.

“We are more than 95 percent sure we got the right bear,” said Donald Jaramillo, the Game and Fish Department sergeant for the Albuquerque Supervisory District. The bear’s feces contained hair that appeared to match a dog that was killed and eaten during Sunday’s attack. The bear was taken to Veterinary Diagnostic Services at the University of New Mexico for a necropsy.

The 20-year-old victim had surgery Sunday at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Her father told Sergeant Jaramillo that she would recovery completely. The victim was dragged from her tent Sunday morning, but fought the bear and got away. She stood up to appear larger, and then ran to her vehicle.
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DNREC Division Fish & Wildlife Enforcement agents recovered the body Saturday of a Millsboro-area man who was reported last seen three days earlier on a pontoon boat docked behind his home.

The presumed drowning victim was identified as Edward Paul Watcheski, Jr., 69, of the Pots-Nets community, whose home was off the Bayside Marina near where his body was found Saturday morning.

Fish & Wildlife agents began searching for him Friday afternoon following a 911 call placed by Mr. Watcheski’s wife, who was out of town and had been unable to reach her husband by phone. The Indian River Fire Company and Delaware State Police assisted in locating the body.
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A USDA Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer was fatally shot Friday, March 5, at the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Recreation Area on the Oconee Ranger District of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Jasper County.

The officer, Christopher Arby Upton, 37, of Monroe, GA, was on routine patrol in the area about 11 p.m. Two individuals were hunting coyote with a high-powered rifle equipped with night vision and apparently mistook the officer for game. After the shooting, the hunters dialed 911 and reported a hunting incident.

“This is a tragic incident where the loss of a Federal officer’s life could have been avoided,” said Steven Ruppert, Special Agent-in-Charge for the Southern Region of the Forest Service. “This is a devastating loss for Chris’ family, our agency, other law enforcement officers and his friends and neighbors in Monroe.
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Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) officers are searching for a cougar that reportedly attacked a child yesterday in Stevens County.

A 5-year-old Canadian boy reportedly was attacked and injured while he was hiking with his family on the Abercrombie Mountain Trail, along Silver Creek in the Colville National Forest east of Northport.

His parents, of Rossland, British Columbia, reported a cougar suddenly jumped out of a brushy area onto the boy, who was near his mother on the trail. The mother reportedly fought off the cougar and the parents took the child to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail, B.C., about 25 miles away. The boy’s parents have asked that their names not be made public.
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