Bobcat the likely attacker in Minn. mauling

5/25/2007 7:28:27 PM
Associated Press

BAGLEY, Minn. -- A Department of Natural Resources officer said there's a good chance that a bobcat was behind the attack on a sleeping camper in Itasca State Park.

Jon Kenning said he was attacked while sleeping in a tent early Thursday. Kenning, a Creighton University professor who was leading students on a biology field course, suffered facial cuts.

DNR conservation officer Greg Spaulding looked at photos of Kenning's injuries and said a bobcat is the likely culprit. He said it's possible that snoring or a head moving in the tent would have caused a bobcat to think it saw a prey animal.

"If indeed it was a bobcat, it would have been as surprised as the camper when it realized that its prey was a human," said DNR spokesman Mark LaBarbera. "Bobcats generally avoid all human contact."

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/ localnews_story.asp?a=295527&z=2