Chad Shimmin of the Utah Wildlife Resources tries to pick up a signal of tracking dogs as he helps search for a bear in American Fork Canyon Monday, June 18, 2007. The bear mauled and killed a 11 year old boy as he slept in his tent Sunday. AMERICAN FORK, Utah - Wildlife officers on Monday fatally wounded a bear they believed was the same animal that snatched an 11-year-old boy from his family's tent and killed the youngster.The bear had been wounded early in the day and was pursued by hunters aided by a helicopter and 26 tracking dogs. It was described as a male, possibly 300 pounds and "jet black." Authorities were sure it was the right animal because the dogs had tracked its scent from the boy's camp site.
The bear was confirmed dead late Monday morning near the area where the boy was killed, said Lt. Scott White of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The boy was sleeping alone in one section of the family's large tent late Sunday. He screamed before he was dragged away in his sleeping bag in a canyon about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, said sheriff's Lt. Dennis Harris.
The boy's body was found about 400 yards from the tent, in the direction of another campsite where a bear sighting had been reported earlier in the weekend, Harris said.
"When it's hot and dry like this, bears are short of food," said Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
"I know of no other fatalities by a black bear in Utah," Karpowitz said.
Utah is not known to have any grizzly bears, which have attacked and killed people in the northern Rockies.
American Fork Canyon is a popular camping destination. Harris said the family was camping about two miles up a dirt road from a popular campground.
Bear scares have prompted the U.S. Forest Service to close two northern Utah campgrounds this week.
The moves were precautionary, but it is a situation that may play out increasingly this summer. Wildlife officials say a population surge of younger bears is now striking out on its own in what is expected to a lean, dry summer.
A heightened awareness has swept the state since a black bear snatched 11-year-old Samuel Ives from his tent Sunday night at an American Fork Canyon camp and killed him. The boy's family criticized the Forest Service for not doing more to warn the public about the killer bear's activity earlier that day at the primitive camping area