Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials hope DNA testing can prevent the misidentification and destruction of bears in connection with attacks/NPS

Great Smoky Mountains National Park biologists, who recently killed the wrong bear in their hunt for one that attacked a teenager while he slept in the backcountry, are working with a forensics lab to develop a DNA tracking procedure that could prevent similar misidentifications in the future.

The DNA analysis, being performed by the Wildlife Forensics DNA Lab at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, is still being fine-tuned. But park officials hope that the lab soon will be able to identify individual bears quickly enough to help biologists in dealing with problem bears.

The teenager was attacked on June 6 while he and his father slept in hammocks at backcountry campsite 84. The father managed to drive off the bear and get his son to medical treatment.

The next evening, "wildlife biologists encountered and shot at a bear near campsite 84, but the bear ran off after the shots were fired and biologists were unable to confirm whether the bear had been struck," park officials said Tuesday. "Efforts to track the bear were unsuccessful due to darkness and a severe thunderstorm with heavy rainfall that fell immediately following the shooting.

"On the morning of June 8, a bear was caught in a culvert trap set at campsite 84. Biologists euthanized the bear and collected a sample for DNA analysis."

During a subsequent search of campsite 84, biologists found a rifle bullet that contained some bear hair. That sample, along with saliva collected from the teen's equipment, was sent to the DNA lab for analysis. While the analysis indicated that the bear that was put down and the bear that was shot were two different males, the analysis wasn't completed in time to save the life of the bear that was captured in the culvert trap. Still, park officials are optimistic that the process can be sped up to potentially prevent similar situations in the future.

"We are pleased that they were able to provide such timely results, which now opens the door for us to consider humanely holding a wild bear in captivity to wait for DNA confirmation linking a captured bear to a bear attack," park spokeswoman Dana Soehn told the Traveler via email Tuesday. "If we can find a suitable facility to hold an animal, we feel that we now have tools available to us to reduce the risk of euthanizing an uninvolved animal."

Initial DNA results from the sampling were provided the park staff on June 15, with the complete report arriving four days later. According to Great Smoky officials, this marks "the first time in the history of managing bear populations in the park where wildlife biologists have had access to a lab willing and capable of processing DNA samples in a timely enough manner to be of use in a bear attack case."

The DNA analysis also confirms that the bear trapped at campsite 84 and the bear shot at campsite 84 are two different male bears. The DNA sample taken from the trapped bear does not match DNA from the attack bear. The DNA from the shot bear was insufficient to make a definitive positive or negative match with DNA collected from the attack bear, but the DNA characteristics are quite similar. The genetics specialist conducting the analysis estimated at least a 65% DNA match between the shot bear and the bear responsible for the attack. While it is likely that the bear shot was the same involved in the attack, it cannot be confirmed without a better DNA sample.

Ms. Soehn said the decision to put down the bear caught in the culvert trap was made due to the danger of having a predatory bear in the park.

"Due to the extreme seriousness of the situation and threat to human safety, we did respond quickly to the area to remove any bear from the area believed to be involved in the attack. Allowing a bear that exhibits predatory behavior towards humans to remain in the population directly poses a great risk to visitors as the behavior is likely to be repeated," she said.

Park Superintendent Cassius Cash added in a prepared statement that, “Though extremely rare and regrettable, we recognize that an uninvolved bear was euthanized through this process and we will be examining new procedures that may allow us to quickly use DNA analysis to correctly identify bears responsible for predatory attacks in the future.”

According to the park, wildlife biologists "believe that the bear that was shot is likely dead as no bear activity at campsite 84 has been observed since June 8 despite extensive search efforts. Out of an abundance of caution, park staff is continuing their search and investigation while the temporary closure remains in effect. Managers will assess later in the week whether it would be reasonably safe to end the closure at that time following a few more days of search efforts."

The national park's black bear population is about 1,500 individuals, according to Ms. Soehn.

"On average, over the last 20 years, we have euthanized two bears a year. This year, we have now euthanized three bears, including the one at Campsite 84," she said. "This does not include the bear linked to the attack which was shot at Campsite 84. We are still looking for a carcass in the area, but we may never have 100% confirmation that this animal was killed."