Bear that may have attacked teen at national park euthanized

By Katie Reilly

(Reuters) - A black bear believed to have attacked an Ohio teenager over the weekend in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been captured and euthanized, a parks spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The male bear was found Tuesday morning in the same campsite near Hazel Creek in North Carolina, where the 16-year-old boy was attacked while camping with his father on Saturday night, park spokeswoman Molly Schroer said.

Ater the attack, the park closed the site and five other campsites, which will remain closed along with four trails and a shelter on the Appalachian Trail until staff are certain the euthanized bear attacked the teen, Schroer said.

She said the bear was euthanized because it was captured at the same campsite. "Because of the seriousness of the attack, we didn't want to take any chances," she said.

Schroer said officials were still trying to determine what might have caused the attack, describing it as atypical behavior for a black bear. The teen sustained cuts to his head and other injuries when the bear pulled him from a hammock, she said.

Black bears can weigh from 100 pounds to 500 pounds. About 1,500 black bears live in the park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.

The Asheville-Citizen Times identified the teen as Gabriel Alexander of Athens, Ohio, and said he was recovering from his injuries at a North Carolina hospital.

(Reporting by Katie Reilly; Editing by Doina Chiacu)