A Himalayan black bear attacked a zoo worker while she guided a safari tour at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania on Saturday morning.
The bear reached through the wire fence of its enclosure and grabbed the staff member before pulling her closer and biting her on the arm.
The worker – who has not been named – had worked at the resort’s Wildlife Academy for about a month.
The resort said in a statement: ‘The bear was engaged in order to release the arm and the associate was immediately extracted.’
The bears at the park are surrounded by three fence enclosures, and the safari tour takes place through a space between the second and third fence.
The employee who was bitten was standing between the first and second fences at the time of the incident, at around 9:45am.
Kory Young, director of lodging at the Farmington resort said that the woman was bitten on ‘the bicep area of the arm’ and that the bear ‘broke the skin’.
The zoo worker was flown to a trauma center at a local hospital for evaluation and treatment.
A spokesman for West Virginia University Medical Center told Action 4 News that she was in a critical condition on Sunday at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
The incident took place during a ‘Safari Tour’ which is described online as an ‘interactive look at exotic animals’, featuring sheep, goats, wolves, tigers, lions and buffaloes.
The resort said they have ‘ensured the bear enclosure is secure’.
‘The associate was stabilized by a nurse, and helicoptered to the trauma center at a local hospital for evaluation and treatment. The associate is stable and alert,’ the resort said in a statement Saturday.
Nemacolin is arranging optional counseling for guests and staff who witnessed the incident.
The bear who attacked the staff member has been at the resort for nine years and was not put down. It is now being isolated within the bear enclosure where at least one other bear resides.
‘We deeply regret this incident,’ Maggie Hardy Knox, president of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort said.
She added, ‘Our thoughts are with our injured associate, our staff and guests as we focus on ensuring they receive the finest medical attention and counseling.’
