A bear attacked a 7-year-old boy in his family’s backyard in Westchester County on Tuesday morning, police said.
One of the boy’s parents called 911 at around 11:16 a.m. to report that a bear had attacked their son on their property at 75 Hickory Kingdom Rd., prompting a multiagency response to the incident, according to the North Castle Chief of Police Peter J. Simonsen.
Emergency medical services treated the child and transported him to an area hospital. A preliminary evaluation of the boy’s condition did not indicate his injuries were life-threatening, officials said.
Police officers kept eyes on the bear, which remained in the family’s backyard where the attack occurred. Police said the bear was still a danger to first responders and local residents, and euthanized it after notifying the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
The DEC then retrieved the bear and transported it to the Westchester County Department of Health for testing.
The North Castle Police Department had previously said that residents of Armonk and the surrounding neighborhoods had reported several black bear sightings. It directed the communities to secure trash containers and remove food sources such as bird feeders. It was not clear, however, if the bear captured on Tuesday was a black bear.
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