A bear reportedly gashed Robert W. Shea’s head as he slept in his tent Tuesday at the  Green Meadow Camping Area. He went to the hospital and required stitches. (COURTESY PHOTO)

A bear reportedly gashed Robert W. Shea’s head as he slept in his tent Tuesday at the  Green Meadow Camping Area. He went to the hospital and required stitches. (COURTESY PHOTO)

BARTLETT — A camper says he was attacked by a black bear early Tuesday, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game and the Bartlett Police. 

Fish and Game Conservation officer Alex Lopashanski said the incident took place shortly before 1:20 a.m. on Tuesday morning at Green Meadow Camping Area, which is on Route 16 in Glen just south of the Story Land amusement park.

The injured man was identified as Robert W. Shea, 26, of Marshfield, Mass., though his father said he recently moved to Brighton, Mass., which is a suburb of Boston.

Shea's father, Robert J. Shea of Tamworth, called the Sun to spread the word about the bear attack. "I want campers to know there is a big bear problem," he said.

According to Shea, his son was sleeping when the bear crashed into his tent. The son required stitches and sustained a black eye.

Lopashanski said Shea wasn't the first human the bear encountered. He said a woman was awakened by a bear pushing on the side of her tent. She yelled out and the bear ran to another campsite, where that man also yelled at the bear, which then crashed into Shea's tent.

'The claw hit him on the head and scratched him and then the bear ran off," said Lopashanski. "It's unclear if it was running away or trying to get inside the tent. As soon as he yelled at it, it took off."

Fish and Game and Bartlett officer David Courville responded. But Keaton said Shea declined an offer to be taken to the hospital by Bartlett Jackson Ambulance. 

Lopashanski said he met Shea at Memorial Hospital and could see that Shea suffered a significant scratch on the top of his head.

Apparently, the bear is no stranger to the campground because it returned later that day and a trap was set for it Tuesday night.

The trap caught a bear; however, the owner of the campground, who saw the bear in question, said it was the wrong bear so it was released "up north." 

The trap, which resembles a sealed piece of steel culvert with a trapped door on one end, was reset Wednesday night.

The suspect bear is estimated to be about 200 pounds. The campground owner is an experienced hunter, and Lopashanski said he trusts that the correct bear can be identified. 

Lopashanski said if the correct bear is caught, it will be euthanized. He said it's "strange" that a bear felt comfortable interacting with three different campsites. 

"It's not normal bear behavior," said Lopashansk, adding that this bear's behavior had become a "public safety issue. ...You can't take chances with something like that happening again." 

On Thursday morning, Fish and Game’s Bear Project Leader Andrew Timmins said the trap only caught a raccoon on Wednesday and would be set again Thursday night.

On Thursday, Lopashanski said there hadn't been bear activity at the campground in two days.

He believes the bear was just sniffing around the camp sites looking for food in the process inadvertently stepped on someone’s head. He said the campground has done a good job teaching campers about bear protocol and the bear probably got habituated to people elsewhere. 

Because the bear made human contact, it has to be destroyed. If trapped, the bear will be immobilized with a tranquillizer via a long pole with a syringe,  and dispatched with a firearm. 

“The whole thing is unfortunate,“ said Timmins.

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