CIMARRON, N.M., June 6 (UPI) -- A 400-pound black bear broke into a New Mexico home and attacked an 82-year-old bedridden woman, who received only minor scratches, police said.
The woman, whose name was not reported, told police she was in bed Tuesday with the windows and doors open when the bear broke the latch on a screen door and entered her bedroom.
The woman's housekeeper checked on her at about 10 p.m. and found the woman had scratches on her face and head, but the bear had already left the Cimarron home. The housekeeper said she heard nothing, and the woman's dog was not alerted to the presence of the larger animal, the Albuquerque Journal reported Thursday.
Department of Game and Fish officers and dogs tracked down the bear and killed it, the newspaper said.
The animal's body was taken to the Veterinarian Diagnostic Center in Albuquerque where it was being tested for rabies.
A Game and Fish officer said bears are normally attracted to people's homes by the smell of food, though there was no food in the woman's bedroom.
