A black bear attacked a 19-year-old staffer at a Colorado camp in the early hours of the morning. Photo / AP
A black bear attacked a 19-year-old staffer at a Colorado camp in the early hours of the morning. Photo / AP
A teen camp counsellor who awoke to a crunching noise realised he was being attacked by a bear.
The 19-year-old was bitten twice in the head by the black bear around 4.15am at Glacier View Ranch, a Christian retreat center in Ward, Colorado, northwest of Boulder.
The teen, who isnamed Dylan, is a counsellor for Glacier View's summer camp and teaches wilderness survival.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said Dylan was asleep when he woke up to a "crunching sound" - with his head inside the mouth of the bear, which was trying to drag him out of his sleeping bag.
A 19 yo. in Ward woke up to a bear dragging him across the ground by his skull. 9 hours and 9 staples later he's alive and well #9newspic.twitter.com/rfgaDBWNAs
She says the teen punched and hit it and other staffers at Glacier View Ranch 77 kilometers northwest of Denver yelled and swatted at the bear, which ran away.
"The crunching noise, I guess, was the teeth scraping against the skull as it dug in," Dylan told Denver7's Amanda del Castillo.
Dylan said the bear dragged him about 12 feet before he was able to get away. "When it was dragging me, that was the slowest part. It felt like it went forever."
A statement from the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which owns and operates Glacier View, said that "campers were not threatened or involved at any time" during the incident.
"A bear wandered into the main area of campus where several staff members were sleeping,' the statement said, adding that the bear attacked the counsellor unprovoked.
"During the attack, other staff members present followed their training and diffused the situation before the bear could cause further harm."
Eventually, the bear left on its own, Denver 7 reported.
According to the Glacier View statement, the medical team stabilised the victim while they waited for emergency personnel from the Lefthand Fire Department, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, EMS and the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, who were all immediately notified.
The 19-year-old was taken to Boulder Community Health for treatment and has since been released.
"There is no danger to his life," the Glacier View statement said.
"After treatment, the counsellor returned to the camp. He is currently stable and resting comfortably."
The 19-year-old is a summer camp counselor at Glacier View, a Christian retreat center in Ward, Colorado. Photo / Glacier View Ranch Facebook
Colorado Parks and Wildlife are currently trying to track the bear to remove it from the area. They are warning people in the area to be careful.
"If the bear can be (identified) on scene and a deputy is on scene with it, it needs to be put down," State Trooper Jonathan Higgs said, according to the Denver Post.
The summer camp will :continue as normal" with one final week.
"Due to its location in the mountains, just several miles from Rocky Mountain National Park, we anticipate contact with various wildlife throughout the summer camp season," Glacier View officials said.
"As such, we train our staff for contact, interaction and incidents with wildlife including moose, wild cats and bears."
