On December 9th at approximately 4 a.m., Ron Caruso, who lives on East Valley Brook Road, was awakened by his barking dog and screaming that was coming from outside. He looked outside his window and saw what appeared to be a bear in the distance.

The aggressive, hungry bear terrorized the family’s property by attacking one of its animals it then came back looking for more that same night.

Caruso who owns four llamas and two donkeys and has lived in Long Valley for over 24 years, was able to see the shocking sight of the black bear attacking one of his llamas in the backyard of the property.

According to the Long Valley Patch, Caruso said “I ran outside and started banging on the fence with a metal shovel and making loud sounds. The bear started to move away, and by the time I got to [the llama] the bear had taken off, but stopped and hung around for a bit before fully going back into the woods.”

Once Caruso got closer to the site of the attack he was able to notice that the llama was in critical condition as it had suffered a broken leg and severe gashes to its back and hind legs. When a veterinarian showed up to the home and assessed the injuries, the 17-year-old animal was put to sleep due to those injuries.

Washington Township Police Officer John Lee arrived on the scene and patrolled the property’s fence line with a shotgun just in case the bear were to come back.

Caruso decided to put the rest of his animals in the barn to prevent any more attacks from the bear. At around 10 p.m. that following night he was out on his deck when heard the bear clawing at the barn door as it tried to get inside and reach the animals.

Caruso did what he could to scare off the bear as he waited for a licensed bear hunter to arrive. The bear luckily ended up fleeing back into the woods before the bear hunter had arrived.

However, this bear may not be safe as the annual New Jersey bear hunt is underway, running Dec. 7 through Dec. 12. After the first two days this week, which included expanded hunting territory, nearly 300 bears have been killed, which is more than the 2014 total from the entire hunt.