Pennsylvania Woman Killed by Pet Black Bear

Kelly Ann Walz of Ross Township Pennsylvania, near Allentown, was killed as she was trying to clean the cage of one of her exotic pets, a 350-pound black bear. Walz and her husband have licenses for several exotic pets, including a Bengal tiger and an African lion, although the license for the pet bear may have been expired at the time of the attack.

Michael Walz was licensed as a dealer of exotic pets and apparently there are others on the property, in addition to the bear, tiger and lion previously stated. The black bear is believed to have attacked Ms. Walz as she was trying to clean its cage. It is believed that she threw a shovel of dog food to one side of the cage to distract the bear while she cleaned the other side. But the bear attacked her and killed her, then was shot by a neighbor while still on top of Walz.

Obviously, Walz had experience handling the animal and was likely going through the standard routine for cleaning the animal's cage. The cage has been described as a 15 x 15 foot fenced enclosure, with concrete reinforcements.

This is the first major exotic pet attack since the famous chimp that nearly killed a friend of its owner, before police were able to shoot and kill it. That animal had appeared in several television commercials and lived in the home of its owner in human-like conditions. The animal was familiar with its victim and attacked inexplicably.