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Quick thinking saves Scout during bear attack

  • Story Highlights
  • Bear attacks camper Friday night at Pennsylvania's Hickory Run State Park
  • "I was just trying to figure out what to do to not get hurt," says Scout, 14
  • Hospital treated him for cuts, bruises, and gave him precautionary rabies shot
  • At future camps, Scout says he'll have pepper spray, and perhaps a gun
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WHITE HAVEN, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A Boy Scout played dead when attacked by a bear during a camping trip, avoiding serious injury.

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Chris Malasics, center, and his father show CNN's Kiran Chetry tent poles damaged by the bear.

Chris Malasics, 14, curled up in the fetal position in his sleeping bag after the bear ripped down his tent at Hickory Run State Park around 11:30 p.m. Friday.

"I was just trying to figure out what to do to not get hurt," he told the Daily Local News of West Chester.

As the bear started tossing Malasics around, a Scout leader tried to create a disturbance by banging pots and pans and flashing car headlights. The bear eventually wandered off. Video Watch Malasics describe harrowing attack »

Malasics, of Chester Springs, was taken to a hospital for treatment for his cuts and bruises. He was also given a precautionary rabies shot.

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Malasics said the experience will not deter him from going camping. In the future, though, he intends to make sure he has a pepper spray for bears, and perhaps a gun.

"I know how to shoot," he said. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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