DETROIT (AP) — Conservation officers shot and killed ablack bear Sunday and plan tests to see
if it is the same animal thatchased and mauled a 12-year-old girl as she jogged on her
grandfather’swooded land in northern Michigan, authorities said.A bear clawedAbby Wetherell in the thigh
Thursday at site 35 miles south-southeast ofTraverse City in Wexford County’s Haring Township.Abby
screamed,and her father and a neighbor scared the bear off. She underwentsurgery at Munson Medical
Center in Traverse City and was released fromthe hospital Sunday and is recovering at home, the Michigan
Departmentof Natural Resources said.After the attack, the DNR said it wouldtrack down and kill the bear
and test the body for rabies and othercommunicable diseases.On Saturday night, two conservationofficers
responded to a complaint about a bear at a site near where Abbywas attacked, the department said in a
statement.A man told themhe shot and wounded a bear on his property because he believed it
wasthreatening him, the department said. Bears are a protected species inMichigan and cannot be shot
unless they pose an immediate threat.The agents "subsequently tracked the bear and shot and killed
the animal" early Sunday, the DNR said.TheDNR said the bear’s carcass was sent to its lab in
Lansing for DNA anddisease testing. It said the bear’s fur and other DNA samples were takenfrom Abby’s
clothing to see if there is a match.The bear was killed in Selma Township, about 2 miles from where Abby
was attacked.Michiganhas an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 black bears, but 90 percent of themlive across the
Straits of Mackinac in the sparsely populated UpperPeninsula. Thursday’s attacked happened in the
northern Lower Peninsula."Bearattacks on human beings are highly unusual, and in most cases
occurbecause a sow is protecting her cubs" the DNR said. "However, there isno evidence that
cubs were present where the attack on Abby occurred."TheDNR said that it would continue efforts to
trap bears in the area untilit determines whether the dead animal carried out the attack.___Follow David
N. Goodman at http://twitter.com/davidngoodmanCopyright
2013 The Associated Press.