Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to a private campsite just north of Grand Lake and west of Rocky Mountain National Park in north central Colorado. The valley floor is at over 8000 feet in elevation but the gorgeous granite peaks around it tower to over 11,000 feet high. Not only the mountains are tall here as the forests of Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir and Bristlecone Pine reveal their majesty. The oldest living tree in the world is 4800 years old and is of the Bristlecone Pine species. The animals that frequent this area are Moose, Mule Deer, Elk and Bighorn Sheep. The dominant predator of the area is the black bear. It is in this science and rugged backdrop that our episode takes place today.
On Sunday, July 25th, 1971 thirty one year old John Richardson of Denver Colorado was camping with his fiance, Linda Moore and his brother in law, G. H. Wadell at Holzwarth Ranch. Moore and Richardson were set to tie the knot on the coming Saturday and were looking forward to making life together as husband and wife. Moore had recently received her doctorate degree from UCLA earlier this year at only 27 years of age.
Mr. Wadell, with his wife and three kids were staying in their RV and Richardson and Moore were camping in their own separate tents alongside their family. The scenery and company were an amazing background for the engaged couple to bid their last week as singles farewell and enjoy some time in the woods together.
After dinner time and fun moments around the campfire, the campers began to wind down for the night. The Wadell’s began the nightly ritual and getting the kids into bed, as Richardson and Moore crawled into their sleeping bags for a peaceful nights rest beneath the soothing blanket of stars laid out above them
Unbeknownst to the campers a hungry black bear was lurking in the darkness. The aroma of their meal still hung in the air wafting its way into its nostrils, beckoning it forward to what may be an easy meal.
In the 1970’s it wasn’t uncommon for visitors to forests to feed bears as they were found in parks or near campgrounds. This behavior conditioned bears to identify people as a food source, indirectly, but not always indirectly.
The bear stealthily crept through the night padding up to near Richardsons tent. For some reason it was drawn to his tent and there is no source that indicated whether he had food inside his tent or not, but he was nonetheless seen as a food source.
Sources indicate that Richardson may have heard the bear nearby and emerged from his tent to investigate, but since he was alone at the time, there is no way to confirm this. At any rate, once he exited his tent the bear attacked him. It bit him by the neck and shook its head back and forth, taking him to the ground in the process. Richardson fought back as best he could and yelled in terror for help as the bear was unrelenting in its attack on him.
Moore heard his cries for help and was first to respond to them. She rushed out of her tent and yelled at the bear trying to frighten it off. While she tried to rescue her beloved fiance the bear chased her and bit her on her back, leaving Richarson bleeding on the ground.
At this point Mr. Wadell roared from the RV brandishing a frying pan as if it were a broadsword. Wadell struck the bear about the face numerous times with such ferocity that the bear turned and fled into the forest.
It was then that Wadell and Moore turned their attention to Richardson. The bear had severely lacerated his throat from which his blood gushed quickly. His life ebbed as they tried life saving first aid.
The authorities were quickly notified and a search for the bear was underway. A professional hunter was brought in and tracked the bear using hounds. They relentlessly followed the bear as it covered several miles trying to elude its pursuers. After catching up with the black bear they dispatched it and ended its predatory death campaign.
Upon examining the bear it was found to be of average size and health for bears from the area, weighing in at a healthy 200 to 230 pounds. There is no mention of the sex or age of the bear, nor if there were cubs present. Frequently these kinds of attacks are from younger male bears who are just learning the boundaries between their world and the human world.
Black bear attacks in Colorado have occurred on occasion in Colorado, but the attack on Richardson was the first fatal attack in recent history, but it wouldn’t be the last. We have discussed bear attacks in Colorado on this channel before, but they have frequently happened after a human was providing food to the bear as in the Donna Munson bear attack episode. But the episode on the young lumberjack Collin McClellan and this episode, there is a component of predation and perhaps territorial defense.