Bear kills horse in Andover

Pony killed by bear at farm in Sussex

"National wildlife experts said it was unusual for a black bear to attack such a large animal" Well, except in NJ......

Strength and speed stun victim's owner

Friday, March 18, 2005 BY AMANDA GERUT Star-Ledger Staff

Wildlife officials believe a pony found attacked near an Andover Township farm yesterday may have been the victim of a hungry bear driven by a lack of spring plants.

The state Department of Environmental Protection's Fish and Game officials set a culvert bear trap -- a cylindrical drum with bacon and molasses bait -- near the Stickles Pond Road hobby farm to catch the bear, officials said.

The bruin is believed to be a large one because the pony weighed at least 250 pounds and was dragged through two fences and up a hill, officials said. The pony suffered a broken neck before it was hauled off.

"It's a classic bear kill, which is breaking the neck and dragging (an animal) off into the woods," said DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura.

The pony, a 15-year-old stallion named Phantom, lived at the 9-acre hobby farm for a short two months before he was found yesterday by his owner, Judy Burns.

Burns, 43, brought Phantom to the farm in the hopes of breeding him. When he arrived, he joined two ponies, two Morgan horses, a flock of chickens, three goats, a few sheep, three rabbits, four dogs, some cats and wild peacocks.

He spent his last night outside with a pregnant mare named Misty, who was unhurt in the attack. Phantom did not sire Misty's offspring.

Burns said she thought the attack must have been swift because none of the dogs barked, she didn't hear a whinny from the horses or a peep from the peacocks after she fed the animals Wednesday night at 11 p.m. And the feed was hay, not sweet-smelling feed that might attract a bear.

"It really doesn't look like that much of a struggle," said Burns, distraught. "I would think if he was kicking and carrying on, we would have heard him. We heard absolutely nothing."

Burns said she noticed Phantom missing at 6 a.m. when she went to bring the ponies in from their paddock.

She hiked across the farm towards the woods with a rope to bring the pony back. When she got about 400 yards into the grove, she saw Phantom's battered body. "This is the last thing I expected to find," Burns said.

Andover Township police identified the attacker as a bear from the prints at the scene.

"It was a big, big print," said Patrolman Rod Mosner, who responded to the farm. "It's amazing (the bear) had that much strength and power to drag a pony that far."

The bear apparently crawled under an electric fence with four strands of charged wires, then went over the three-board fence with a strand of electric wire, Burns said.

Burns said she has seen bear droppings and knows they have been through the pastures before, but has never had any problems.

"My 10-year-old son locks up the chicken coop at night, and now I'm going to be paranoid because you don't know if (the bear) is going to be hanging out," Burns said.

National wildlife experts said it was unusual for a black bear to attack such a large animal.

"You don't hear about this very often," said Lynn Rogers, a wildlife biologist from Montana who has studied bears for more than 30 years. "For a bear to go after something the size of a horse is pretty unusual, although some states do pay for livestock losses because this kind of thing does happen occasionally."

Sue Mansfield, a bear tracker in New Hampshire, said she had only heard of one other similar case.

"I've heard that years ago there was one bear that was causing quite a bit of devastation to livestock, but it was sort of an isolated incident. I haven't heard of any since," Mansfield said.

Makatura said March is about the time of year bears start leaving their dens, and males are usually active first. Although spring is around the corner, plants are not developed enough to be a substantial source of food for the bears, she said.

"People living in bear country should remain alert and realize that now is the time for bears to come out of their dens," Makatura said. "Start closing up their garbage and realize bears have an extremely sensitive sense of smell."

As for Phantom, he will likely be buried on the farm, Burns said.

Amanda Gerut covers Sussex County. She can be reached at [email protected] or (973) 383- 0516.