Teen bit in head by bear wakes up to “crunching sound”

Wildlife officers are searching for a black bear that attacked a Colorado camp staffer and bit him on the head as he slept outdoors near campers.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill says the 19-year-old woke up at around 4 a.m. Sunday to a “crunching sound” with his head inside the mouth of the bear, which was trying to pull him out of his sleeping bag.

She says the teen punched and hit it and other staffers at Glacier View Ranch 48 miles (77 kilometers) northwest of Denver yelled and swatted at the bear, which ran away. The staffer was treated briefly at a hospital.

Black bears aren’t usually aggressive but they recently attacked a woman in a popular hiking area in Idaho and killed two people in Alaska.