Bear grabs baby from pushchair

A baby girl died after being snatched from her pushchair by a bear at a holiday colony in upstate New York.

Esther Schwimmer, aged five months, was sleeping outside her family's bungalow in the Catskill mountains on Monday when the bear dragged her into nearby woods. The two-year-old, 155lb (70kg) animal, which was later shot by police, dropped the girl after onlookers pelted it with rocks. But it had inflicted serious head and neck wounds and Esther was found to be dead at hospital.

Neighbours had raised the alarm when they saw the black bear approach. Esther's mother rushed her two other children inside the bungalow but when she dashed back for the baby the pushchair was empty.

The colony, 70 miles north-west of New York City, is a popular destination for Orthodox Jewish visitors in summer. The Schwimmer family lived in Brooklyn. After the incident, residents started packing up to leave. "People are hysterical," said Avi Mendl, a close friend of the Schwimmer family.

Experts say black bears hardly ever prey on humans. Ward Stone, a wildlife pathologist, said: "In all my years, 34 summers, we've had them eat birdseed, get into trouble eating dog food in people's yards, but black bears are just not noted for attacking humans." Such a young bear, which was probably on its own for the first time, almost certainly saw the baby as food.

The American Bear Association said only 40 people had been killed by black bears in North America in the past 100 years. Much more dangerous are grizzly and brown bears, which are seen in the western United States. Black bears are common in the Catskills and when food is scarce they have been known to wander as far as the suburbs of New York City.