Officials euthanize bear suspected of attacking girl in Colorado
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The black bear suspected of seriously injuring a 5-year-old girl in Colorado has been euthanized, CBS affiliate KKTV reports. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Monday that officers tracked down the bear seen walking up to a home about a half-mile away from where the girl was attacked.
Officials set three traps to catch the bear but they killed it before the animal could enter one.
The young girl's mother said she heard yelling at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning and found her daughter being dragged around by a bear. When she screamed, she said the bear dropped the child.
A spokeswoman for St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Teri Cavanagh, told the Associated Press that doctors expect the unidentified girl to "mend very well" after suffering apparent bite wounds in the attack.
The girl was attacked after she went outside to check on what she thought were noises coming from her dog.
Pediatric surgeon Charles Breaux Jr. told reporters Sunday that the bear apparently bit her on her back side but she didn't have any injuries to her brain or organs or suffer any fractures. He says she received dozens of stitches internally and externally.
Wildlife officers are confident the bear is the one that attacked the girl based on its appearance and behavior. Authorities won't know for sure until its body, including DNA, is analyzed at a laboratory.