Forest Service shuts down campground because of bear

A campground in the eastern Uinta Mountains remained closed Wednesday for the third consecutive day as trappers tried to capture a hungry black bear that frequently returns to hunt for food.

Attempts to catch the bear started last week and were not related to the fatal mauling of an 11-year-old boy in the Wasatch Mountains, said David Ream, a recreation manager at the U.S. Forest Service.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is in charge of capturing the bear at the Ledgefork campground above the Smith and Morehouse Reservoir, about 45 miles east of Salt Lake City.

"The bear keeps coming back," Ream said. "We try to get people to put their food away. Not everyone does. ... We've emptied the Dumpsters. The traps are baited."

The state wildlife agency is "not comfortable" with the bear at Ledgefork, Kevin Bunnell, mammals program coordinator, told KSL Radio in Salt Lake City.

Bunnell said many bear sightings this spring involve yearlings cut loose by their mothers.

"That's the best explanation that I have for why people are seeing so many bears," he said.

A large male black bear dragged Sam Ives from his family's tent late Sunday at the head of American Fork Canyon in Utah County.

The family put up the tent in an undeveloped area where dispersed camping is allowed. The site is about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

The boy's grandfather, Eldon Ives, criticized the Forest Service for failing to shut down the nearby Timpooneke campground or warn everybody of a bear attack at the same spot 18 hours earlier.