Published: September 04, 2007 10:38 am         

Aggressive bear shot by homeowner had rabies

GRANTSVILLE - The aggressive bear that was killed a week ago by an Amish Road homeowner after the animal charged and then attempted to pull out a window air conditioner has tested positive for rabies, a Garrett County health official said Tuesday.

"We sent the head to our health and mental hygiene lab in Baltimore on Thursday and got the results Friday," said Steve Sherrard, director of environmental health for the county's health department.

At 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, the homeowners had heard a commotion outside and saw a bear attempting to get at two penned pygmy goats. When the family hollered from its main doorway at the bear, it wheeled and charged the house.

"At first it was pushing on the door and I was holding onto the handle from inside," said Charlotte Stanton. "Mike was going to the gun room to get a gun," she said of her husband.

At that point, Charlotte said the bear left the door and attempted to pull an air-conditioning unit out of a window.

"I was pulling from inside and the bear was pulling on it from outside when Mike got there with the gun," Charlotte added. "There was just enough room to stick out the gun barrel beside the air conditioner, but you couldn't aim it. He just stuck it out there and shot and it flattened the bear."

The No. 4 shotgun pellets struck the bear in the head and neck, authorities reported. The bear was eventually put down by a Natural Resources Police officer who arrived at the home 2.7 miles south of U.S. Route 40 about 30 minutes after the 911 call was transferred to state police.

"A little after that we got a call from DNR, who said, 'We hear you have a bear problem' and I said, 'Not any more we don't.'"

Charlotte said the family consulted with medical staff at Sacred Heart Hospital and decided that all family members, including a 15-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, would receive post-exposure rabies vaccinations.

"Those things are really expensive and our insurance doesn't cover them so I'm waiting to hear back from Senator (George) Edwards to see if the state will pay for them," Charlotte said.

Mike contacted the bear when he helped load it onto a state truck, and the son helped Charlotte clean up blood from the animal.

Charlotte said that when the bear left the goats and charged the house, it covered the 35 yards very quickly.

"It's a good thing none of us were in the yard or you'd have dead people up here," she said. "We see bears around here a good bit."

Harry Spiker, who heads the bear management program for the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service, said that neither the police officer nor a wildlife employee who responded will receive shots.

"Our wildlife staff all have the pre-exposure vaccine," he said.

NRP said the Stantons were acting in self defense and will not be charged for shooting the bear.

Both Spiker and Sherrard said the most likely source of the disease would be a raccoon. "There were some bite marks on the bear's rump, so that could have come from a raccoon fight or maybe the bear bit itself after becoming rabid," Spiker said.

This is the first bear to test positive for rabies in Maryland. About a half-dozen have been tested over the years, according to Spiker. During recent years, rabid bears have been confirmed in Alberta, Canada, and Pennsylvania.

In the Pennsylvania incident, it was discovered that the sow bear had actually devoured her own cubs, according to Spiker.

Although the Amish Road bear was lactating, there was no evidence that cubs were nearby. The carcass of the 134-pound sow was buried without necropsy. Spiker said rabies cannot be transmitted by way of the animal's breast milk. The cubs would now weigh 20 to 40 pounds, Spiker said. He estimated that the sow was 3 to 5 years old.

Sherrard said the number of positive rabies tests are down some in the county this year.

Of 30 animals sent for testing, four have been diseased: one bat, two raccoons and the bear.

The animals tested also included dogs, cats, possums, skunks and a fox.

Michael A. Sawyers can be reached at msawyers@times-news.com.