Bear was spotted circling area after fatal attack of hiker, police said

WEST MILFORD – A 4-year-old black bear believed to have attacked and killed a hiker over the weekend likely was looking for food and was circling the victim's body when sheriff's officers and wildlife officials killed it, officials said Monday.

The approximately 300-pound male bear was killed with two rifle blasts and is being examined at a state lab for more clues as to why it may have pursued the group of five hikers, a spokesman for the State Department of Environmental Protection said at a news conference. Killed was Darsh Patel, 22, of Edison, who had come to the Apshawa Preserve, about 45 miles northwest of New York City, on Sunday with four friends.

State and local officials stressed that bear attacks are rare even in a region of the state that may have as many as 2,400 bruins in its dense forests. DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said the attack was the first fatal bear-human encounter on record in New Jersey.

"This is rare occurrence," West Milford police Chief Timothy Storbeck said, noting that his department receives six to 12 calls per week regarding bears, usually involving them breaking into trash cans.

According to Storbeck, the five friends noticed the bear beginning to follow them and ran, splitting up as they did. When they couldn't find Patel, they called police, who found his body about two hours later.

The bear was about 30 yards from the body and circling, Storbeck said, and wouldn't leave even after members of a search-and-rescue team tried to scare it away by making loud noises and throwing sticks and stones. .

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According to West Milford Police Capt. Richard Fiorilla, a 23-year veteran of the West Milford Police Department, this is the second report of a bear-and-human encounter during his time on the force.

Kelcey Burguess, principal biologist and leader of the State Division of Fish and Wildlife's black bear project, said the bear could have been predisposed to attack but more likely was looking for food, particularly since wildlife officials believe there is a current shortage of the acorns and berries that bears eat. The hikers had granola bars and water with them, Storbeck said.

The bear had not been tagged and therefore was not known to state wildlife officials, Ragonese said.

Officials don't believe the hikers provoked the bear but they may have shown their inexperience when they decided to run. The safest way to handle a bear encounter is to move slowly and not look the bear in the eye, Ragonese said.

He said bear-human encounters in New Jersey have slowly decreased in recent years, likely due to the DEP's introduction of a state-sponsored bear hunt and efforts to educate the public on how not to attract the bruins.

Patel was a senior at Rutgers University in the School of Arts and Sciences, majoring in information technology and informatics, the school said in a statement.

"As we grieve over his tragic passing, please know that our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones and to all his friends and fellow students at Rutgers," said Rutgers Chancellor Richard L. Edwards, Ph.D. in a statement provided to Mycentraljersey.com.

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Edwards said members of the Rutgers community can call CAPS (Counseling, ADAP, and Psychiatric Services) on the College Avenue Campus for counseling at 848-932-7884. A counselor is on call all day Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the counseling center, located at 17 Senior Street in New Brunswick, for those with urgent needs.

He said additional counselors are available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs' conference room on the 4th floor of the College Avenue Student Center.

The names of the other hikers were not released as the investigation is ongoing, Fiorilla said. West Milford police, the N.J. State Medical Examiner and the N.J. State Department of Environmental Protection's Fish and Wildlife Division are investigating. The DEP plans to conduct tests on the bear to look at the stomach contents and determine if it was sick or wounded.

The Apshawa Preserve is a 576-acre natural area used for hiking and bird watching, located about 45 miles northwest of New York City.

In a statement released by the New Jersey Sierra Club, Jeff Tittel, director, said they were saddened by the tragic death.

"Bears are usually docile and are more afraid of people than we are of them," said Tittel. "There is no one that has been killed by a bear in New Jersey in modern times."

He noted most bear attacks in the past were related to people having food.

Most bears will avoid people, he said, but bears that have been feed or exposed to food from humans then see people as a source of food and become aggressive.

"Bears don't become aggressive that day, it happens over time," said Tittel.

He expressed the need to do a better job on education, not only for hikers but people living in "Bear Country."

"We need to require bear-proof garbage containers and strictly enforce a prohibition on the feeding of bears so tragedies like this can be avoided, said Tittel. "We also need to have signs warning people they are in bear country and have educational materials listed at all trail heads."

He said the state has significantly cut back the amount of money spent on bear education. "Ten years ago we were spending over $2.5 million a year on bear education and now we are spending a tenth of that," said Tittel.

According to Tittel, the state has been using hunting instead of a management plan. "The aggressive bears tend to be living closer to homes and developed areas. When they hunt they miss most of the aggressive bears. We need to protect bear habitat by eliminating development in these areas. Hopefully with better education and bear management we can prevent future tragedies," he said.

Contributing: Suzanne Russell and Everett Merrill.

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Bear facts

Generally, bears tend to be wary of people.

Bears will eat almost anything including human food, garbage, pet food, birdseed and small livestock. Once they find an easily accessible food source, they will lose their wariness of people and may return to the available food source. These bears can become a nuisance or aggressive and may have to be trapped and adversively conditioned or destroyed.

Never feed bears. It's illegal in New Jersey, and it's dangerous. Anyone feeding bears could face a penalty of up to $1,000 for each offense.

Never approach a bear.

Remain calm. Make the bear aware of your presence by speaking in an assertive voice, singing, clapping your hands or making other noises.

Make sure the bear has an escape route. If a bear enters your home, provide it with an escape route by propping open doors.

Avoid direct eye contact which may be perceived by the bear as a challenge. Never run from a bear, Slowly back away.

To scare the bear, make loud noises by yelling, banging pots and pans or use an airhorn. Make yourself look as big as possible by waving your arms.

If a bear does not leave, move to a secure area. Immediately notify the DEP's 24-hour toll-free hotline at 1-877-927-6337.

Source: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fish and Wildlife