In the meantime, tests continue on Bradley and the bears. An autopsy on Bradley is expected to be conducted sometime this week at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. University spokesman Joe Smith said the autopsy will be conducted by Ellen Wallen, a forensic pathologist. The results will be given directly to Smokies officials, Smith said. At UT, portions of the bears' brains will be removed and tested for rabies or other diseases as investigators try to figure out why the bears attacked Bradley.
Experts say black bears generally avoid confrontations and attacks are extremely rare.
The Smokies recorded just one attack last year, and less than a dozen each year in the past decade. The park attracts 10 million visitors a year and is home to an estimated 1,800 black bears. Joe Clark, a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Knoxville, said people need to remember that bears are wild animals and can be dangerous. Still, he said, black bears usually fear humans and run from confrontation. For every human that's been killed by a black bear since we've been recording bear-human deaths, there have been 180 people killed by bee stings.