Game Commission: 2 children attacked by bear in Northeastern Pennsylvania

A bear attacked two children on Monday in Luzerne County, causing non-life threatening injuries and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is now investigating the incident.

The attack occurred while the children were playing in the driveway of their home in Wright Township in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The game commission said there are few details about the attack and what might have provoked the bear, but added that the two children, ages 5 and 14 months, were treated for bites and/or scratches at a hospital in Wilkes-Barre.

“This is an unfortunate incident and I’m relieved to hear their injuries aren’t severe,” said Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans in a statement.

Black bears are found throughout many parts of Pennsylvania, and most concentrated in the Appalachian Mountain range. Sometimes they have visited urban areas, even being spotted in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park and the Hill District.

Related:

• 2021: 260-pound black bear trapped near Downtown Pittsburgh
• 2021: Black bear spotted in Pittsburgh's Mt. Washington, Overbrook neighborhoods
• 2020: Black bear roams, naps in Pittsburgh's Highland Park area
• 2018: Black bear spotted in Hempfield's Cherry Creek neighborhood
• 2018: Police spot black bear in Edgewood

The game commission said the state is home to about 15,000 bears, and thousands of encounters between black bears and people have occurred with very few conflicts.

Bear attacks have happened in Pennsylvania over the years, but the game commission said Pennsylvania’s bears generally avoid contact with people and attacks are rare.

The last reported fatal bear attack from a wild black bear in Pennsylvania occurred in 1906 in Elk County. There was a dispute over whether a death in 2012 in Clinton County was a bear attack, and a captive bear killed its owner in Ross Township in 2009.

The game commission said that the bear involved in Monday’s incident likely isn’t prone to attack and that the attack likely was triggered by some unknown circumstance.

Two bear traps have been set in the Wright Township area, said the commission, and if the bear is caught, it will be euthanized as a precaution if DNA testing can positively identify if it is the bear involved in the attack.

Following the attack, the commission is advising people in Pennsylvania to keep their distance from bears and avoid feed bears. If one does encounter a bear, they should get its attention by vocalizing and waving at it.