Bear Claws Woman, Covers Her With Brush
ALBRIGHTSVILLE, Pa. - A group of campers said a bear dragged a woman into the woods, clawed her and bit her, then covered her with brush and left.
Kathleen Feeney, 21, said she was too frightened to move as the animal tore off her poncho and sweat shirt, clawed at her back and bit her head, and wondered, “When will it stop?”
“At one point,” she said Monday, “the bear lay down beside me.”
Feeney was camping on the eastern edge of Hickory Run State Park with Brian Scollon, 19, and Robert Brennan, 21. They bought some food, stored it in a tent, and went fishing.
Feeney returned to the camp, found the bear in the tent and ran back to the others with the bear chasing her. The three then fled.
Brennan clambered up a steep slope to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and tried to flag down motorists. None stopped, but someone called state police.
Feeney and Scollon ran through bushes and tried to take refuge behind a large tree, with the bear taking swipes at them with its paws. Scollon drew his hunting knife.
“I tried to stab him,” said Scollon, interviewed with Feeney at her home Monday night.
Then the bear dragged Feeney into the woods. Scollon said he shouted, “Play dead, Kathleen.”
Feeney said the bear tore at her clothes, bit her, covered her with brush and tree branches, and eventually left. She said she could hear Scollon yelling, “Run to my voice.”
At nearly midnight, Scollon climbed the slope to the turnpike, where state police were waiting, followed by the wounded Feeney.
Feeney was treated at Lehigh Valley Hospital for scratch marks on her back, bites on the back of her head and a puncture wound on her leg. She was discharged Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Park officials said it was the first attack by a bear in Hickory Run’s history.
Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com
No point biting a dead body.