Smokies Light

I was walking the main street of Gatlinburg yesterday when two Ranger patrol cars and an ambulance with sirens blazing came through and turned up Airport Road. Somehow I just knew it was a bear attack. The bear was only 55 pounds. The bear that mauled and killed the schoolteacher along the Little River a few years ago was not much bigger if any. These yearlings can get very hungry if not making it well on their own, resulting in attacks on humans. You would think 55 pounds to not be a threat, but hunger, sharp claws, and teeth can be a lethal combination at any weight. I wrote about meeting a 300+ lb black bear all alone in Shenandoah a couple years ago. It was his decision alone whether I lived or died, but bears that get to be that big are usually not that hungry and too smart to mess with humans. The yearlings don't know any better.