WASHINGTON — “I can’t move, and I’m bleeding, and I’m gonna die.”
That’s what 63-year-old Karen Osborne, of Middletown, told a Frederick County 911 dispatcher after she was attacked by a black bear Wednesday night.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said the attack happened in Osborne’s driveway after she unknowingly came between a mother bear and three cubs.
It was the first bear attack on a human in Maryland’s recorded history.
On the nearly 14-minute 911 tape released Thursday, Osborne can be heard pleading for help.
“Please come now,” she tells the dispatcher. “Please come now. Send someone now. I’m being attacked by this bear. He’s coming back.”
At one point, she said she could hear the bear snorting and stomping behind her.
Osborne asked the dispatcher to pass along a heartbreaking message: “Please tell my husband I love him.”
Eventually, the sheriff’s department arrived on the scene to help, and Osborne began describing her injuries: “My arms are broken, my leg is broken, I think, I’m chewed up on the back (and) on my head.”
Even under the stress of a possible repeat attack, the woman’s concerns were largely for her husband, telling the dispatcher to stop him from covering over as well as her daughter’s dog. She’s also concerned that the arriving authorities would run her over.
The dispatcher kept speaking soothingly with the woman, saying, “I’m going to stay on the line with you.” Even after sheriff’s deputies arrived, she pleaded with the dispatcher to keep speaking with her: “Your voice is helping me to keep calm.”
The full 911 call, minus long silences and identifying information:
Osborne, who was left with a broken arm, cuts to her head and puncture wounds on her arms, was taken to a hospital in Hagerstown and is expected to recover.
The 200-pound bear was later located and euthanized.
A DNR spokesman said the bear cubs are big enough to survive without their mother.
