N.J. Officials: If bear attacks, go for the snout

Two important points emerged from a conference call Monday with New Jersey officials investigating a bear attack on Sunday in Rockaway Township.

First point: There are a lot of bears in Morris County and North Jersey.

Second point: Even while hibernating, bears will defend themselves if you get too close.

Two days after the conclusion of the annual New Jersey bear hunt, state officials said they are not hunting for the bear who attacked and injured a scout master who entered a cave the animal was likely denning in Sunday in Rockaway Township.

"At this point, we are not pursuing capture of that bear," said Dave Chanda, director of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife. "It was not what we consider an aggressive Category 1 bear. It was just defending an area where it was going to spend the winter."

The scout master, identified as Christopher Petronino of Boonton, was on an excursion with three Boy Scouts to explore a cave he knew of in the wooded area south of Lake Winnebago. Saying he had never previously seen a bear in the cave or the area, Petronino stepped in the cave and encountered a black bear, which dragged him into the cave.

Petronino spent more than an hour inside the cave with his sweatshirt over his face and curled into a fetal position, "playing dead" until the bear exited the cave, possibly smelling food left outside by the scouts as ordered by their injured leader.

Neither of those strategies are recommended when a person encounters a bear in the wild, but may have saved Petronino's life, officials said.

"Our advice to folks is to back away and let the bear have the trail," Chanda said. "If a bear is approaching, they need to make as much noise as they can and raise their arms so they look large. When an encounter like this occurs, unlike with grizzly bears, playing dead usually doesn't work with a black bear. We encourage them to fight back, go for the snout of the bear, which like most dogs is a sensitive area."

The encounter in Rockaway Township, however, began in close quarters.

"In the case, this worked for the gentlemen, so I'm not going to second-guess what he tried to do, but it's not what we teach any folks in any of our bear-aware programs," Chanda said, adding that he does not know if any of the specific strategies led to the bear leaving the cave and the area.

"The bear at that point might have felt there was no longer a threat and just was getting out of the den to go find a new place to set up for the winter," Chanda said. "Black bear are not true hibernators, so when they are in the den, they are fully aware of what's going around them, and can go active at a moment's notice."

Fish and Wildlife officials also stressed there was no connection to the recently-concluded hunt. The encounter on Sunday took place in what is known as Area 3 of the annual bear hunt, where 131 bears where killed over the past 10 days.

"It's not our most dense area but it is open to hunting," Division of Fish and Wildlife Assistant Director Larry Herrighty said. "Probably between one and two bears where square mile."

Chanda noted for reference that in New York and Pennsylvania, bear management goals are for one animal for every three square miles of habitat.

Chanda said the encounter will drive them to step out the bear-awareness program and stress that "you need to be aware of your surroundings when you're out in the wilds of North Jersey."

No criminal charges or citations are pending, officials said, but an investigation is ongoing. The Patriots' Path Council of the Boy Scouts of America said the excursion was not a sanctioned scouting activity.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.