Wildlife associate sues Nemacolin after bear attack on guided safari

A Wexford woman who worked as a wildlife associate at Nemacolin Wildlife Adventure is suing her employer after a Himalayan black bear almost killed her while performing a trick with it two years ago for a tour group.

Megan Alborg, 24, had just started working at Nemacolin, when, on July 20, 2019, she was leading a guided safari tour for four guests at the resort. The tour, which cost $90, was to give visitors a chance to “experience a behind the scenes, interactive look at exotic animals,” including sheep, goats, wolves, tigers, lions and buffaloes, the resort said in advertisements.

As part of the tour, the complaint said, Alborg was to get a high five from the bear, named Kooter, who had been at the resort for nine years.

To do the trick, Alborg was to hold a marshmallow in one hand, and get the high five with the other. The bear then was to receive the marshmallow as a reward.

Kooter was held in a wire cage with a window through which he could reach his paw out for the trick.

When Alborg reached her right, dominant hand toward the bear, the lawsuit said, he pulled her arm through the opening and mauled her.

“Megan’s arm was horrifically gashed and torn apart, and she suffered severe blood loss,” the lawsuit said. “Megan’s blood loss would likely have been fatal but for the makeshift tourniquet applied by a nearby hotel guest who happened to be a trauma nurse.”

Alborg had to be airlifted to a local hospital for trauma treatment.

A message left at the resort Thursday evening was not immediately returned.

Alborg sustained significant blood loss, amputation of her right thumb, open fractures of her arm, and a brachial artery laceration, the complaint said.

She has had 15 surgical procedures on her arm, including multiple skin grafts.

The lawsuit names as defendants Nemacolin Woodlands Inc., which is owned by the Margaret Hardy Knox Trust; Jonathan Bergman and Callan Hahn, who the complaint said were veterinary consultants for the wildlife exhibit; Shallenberger Construction and McMillen Engineering, who the complaint said were responsible for the bear enclosure.

Bergman said he had no comment when contacted Thursday evening.

Messages left for Hahn, Shallenberger and McMillen were not immediately returned.

The complaint alleges that Alborg was not properly trained to perform the high five trick, that it was too dangerous for any staff member to perform; and that the bear cage was not adequately constructed to protect tour guides.

It includes claims for negligence — specifically that the defendants should have known about the ferocious nature of Himalayan black bears and the risks they post to humans. In addition, it alleges that the veterinary consultants who worked with the Nemacolin wildlife exhibit should have known of the potential danger from the high five trick and advised against it being performed.

According to the complaint, a group of Himalayan black bears killed eight people and injured more than a dozen others in a village in India in 2013, and in 2016, four people were killed in such attacks in Northern Japan.