On 19th August 2010, the BBC News web site (Source) featured a story about how a 34 year old man saved his young daughter, 3, from serious injuries when she was attacked by an Asian Black Bear whilst visiting a Zoo in western Germany.
The incident occurred on 18/08/10 when the Dutch man, his wife and two children were visiting the Eifel zoo in Luenebach, western Germany. It is understood that the 3 year old girl climbed the 1 meter high fence whilst her parents were not watching and fell into the bear enclosure. The girl was then mauled and hit round the head by the bear before her father jumped over the fence to save his daughter. The 34 year old man who has not yet been named managed to save himself and his daughter but not before he was also attacked by the bear and receiving injuries to his leg.
The police and ambulance were called quickly to the scene by onlookers and both victims were taken to a hospital in nearby Trier by helicopter where they both remain. A police spokeswoman said that they were both ‘extremely lucky’ to survive an attack by the bear as this particular breed of bear are well known for their strength and regularly attack and kill livestock and humans in their natural habitat.
The Zoo released a statement saying that they intend to do everything they can to find out what had happened. One of the Zoo owners said “We’re all shocked and we will take additional precautions to prevent such a thing from happening again.”
The local Police have confirmed that they have now launched an extensive enquiry into the incident and are investigating the possibility of whether the child’s parents, or the zoo, were guilty of negligence in the build-up to the incident.
News reports have confirmed that this particular, 38 year old, Asian black bear has a history of becoming aggressive and attacking humans and it made headlines in Germany in 2007 after it attacked a zoo keeper and injured his arm. Police and officials investigating the accident will seriously question whether the fencing and safety measures in place were sufficient in light of the previous attack and the fact that the Zoo was aware, or ought to have been aware, of the bear’s aggressive nature.
