Hiker (22) killed by bear in New Jersey woodland

A man hiking in a heavily wooded area of northern New Jersey was killed by a black bear during the weekend, police said yesterday, in what experts called an extremely rare attack.

Darsh Patel (22), of Edison, New Jersey, and four friends encountered the bear on Sunday afternoon in the Apshawa Preserve, about 64km (40 miles) northwest of New York City, according to the West Milford Township, New Jersey, police department.

The bear began to follow the hikers and they scattered, police said. Four of them regrouped but Patel was missing and they contacted police. Patel’s body was found about two hours later.

“Evidence at the scene indicated that the victim had been attacked by a bear,” a police statement said. A bear was found at the scene and killed.

Black bears are common in New Jersey and have been seen in all of the state’s 21 counties, but attacks on humans are unusual, according to experts.

“It is definitely rare,” said Lawrence Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

A department report in 2012 put the number of black bears in New Jersey at about 3,000 and said the state had one of the highest black bear densities in the nation. The state holds a six-day bear hunt in December.

No one had been killed by a black bear in New Jersey since 1852, according to the New Jersey Fish and Game Council. – (Reuters)