Boy killed by bear

The 11-year-old was pulled from his tent

AMERICAN FORK CANYON — A black bear that fatally mauled an 11-year-old boy in American Fork Canyon might not have been motivated by leftover camp food, officials said Monday.

"It does not appear that the very minimal amount of food in the campsite had anything to do with the bear attack," Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Darren Gilbert said.

The boy, Samuel Evan Ives of Pleasant Grove, was camping with his family in a wooded area just north of the Timpooneke campgrounds Sunday night when a bear slashed through his tent and pulled him out in his sleeping bag.

"We're trying to make sense of this very tragic event," grandfather Eldon Ives said. "It's something that just doesn't make sense. It's like a bad dream. We're still struggling with how to grieve."

"Some things you're prepared for, but we weren't prepared for news that our grandson and child was killed by a bear. That's one of the hardest things we're struggling with — the nonsensical nature of this tragedy."

Ives said the family appreciates the outpouring of concern but asks for respect and privacy as they grieve. A trust fund has been set up for Samuel Ives' family through Wells Fargo Bank.

This is the first black bear-related death recorded in Utah, officials said.

The family heard the boy's screams but couldn't find him outside, so they reported an abduction. Officers from several agencies searched for two hours before they found the boy's body nearly 400 yards from the family's multiroom tent, Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Harris said.

"It's just really sad," said Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "You don't expect that kind of thing when you are going camping with your family."

A 250- to 350-pound adult black bear was killed about 11:40 a.m. Monday after extensive tracking by 26 dogs and five houndsmen.

Officers shot the bear in the shoulder Sunday night, somewhere between Timpooneke and Ridge Line, but he ran off, and the dogs temporarily lost his scent. The bear wandered until he was finally tracked down and fatally shot.

The animal's body was pulled off the mountain by a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter, then driven to Utah State University for testing, said Mike Fowlks, chief of law enforcement for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

Wildlife officials said later Monday that DNA tests confirmed the bear was in fact responsible for the fatal mauling.

"Normally, they're just a nuisance, not killers," Karpowitz said. "This is the first (death) we've ever dealt with."

Officials also were investigating whether the bear was the same one that clawed into a tent of campers earlier. Those campers were questioning why the area wasn't shut down after they reported a bear scavenged in their campsite and ripped their tent.

Recent comments