If an animal attacks a human should it be put down? | The Woodsman Hut | Forums

This woman was attacked by a bear

Wildlife officials say a bear attacked a woman running a marathon in a national preserve in northern New Mexico.

The woman suffered several bites and scratches and had injuries to her head, neck and upper body that weren't life-threatening.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish says the woman was racing Saturday afternoon when a female black bear confronted her in the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Officers say the victim surprised the bear after her cub had run up a nearby tree.

more http://abcnews.go.co.....o-39974311

Wardens found the bear and killed it, she wants to change that law.

Karen Williams wants to change the law that forced the state of New Mexico to kill the bear that almost killed her.

“I’m obligated to do something,” said Williams, a trauma nurse and triathlete from Los Alamos, who became internationally known when New Mexico wildlife officers tracked down and killed the black bear on June 19. A day before, the mother bear had attacked Williams during a marathon in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Williams, 53, said it was wrong for the state to kill a bear that acted on its protective instinct. Williams and many others around the country said the bear was defending its two cubs in a wilderness area, not stalking her.

Now Williams wants protections for wild animals caught in similar circumstances.

“I’m probably the only person who can spearhead [a change] because of the momentum, because of the press,” she said.

A 1979 New Mexico law requires the state to kill any wild animal that attacks a human. Then the fallen animal is tested for rabies, a disease that is rare in bears. During more than two decades, the New Mexico Department of Health has not found rabies in a single bear.

Similar mandatory kill policies of wild animals that attack humans are in place in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

But there are other ways. Many states on the East Coast allow wildlife officers to consider the circumstances that led to an attack when deciding whether a bear should live or die. And managers of Yellowstone National Park won’t kill a bear unless it is preying or feeding on a human.

more http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/woman-who-survived-mauling-wants-to-take-on-new-mexico/article_58c67425-255b-5805-8c0e-c360fff24374.html