KELLY ANN WALZ
October 5, 2009 by Sarah Haddad
ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA – A Pennsylvania woman was killed yesterday – by her own pet black bear!
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has confirmed that Kelly Ann Walz kept exotic animals in her home, and was killed Sunday evening by the black bear.
Police responded to an emergency call, to find Walz with fatal injuries lying in her pet black bear’s cage. The cage is 15 x 15 foot, and made of steel and concrete. She had thrown dog food into a corner to distract the bear while she cleaned, but for some reason, the animal turned on its owner.
The 350-pound bear was shot to death by a neighbor while it was on top of Walz.
Police say Walz had had the bear since 2000, and that she had a license for it. Also kept at the house were a Bengal tiger and an African lion. Both of those animals were licensed by the state to be kept as pets, said Tim Conway, the game commission’s information educational supervisor for the Northeast region.
A 200-pound pet chimpanzee, also kept legally, was shot earlier this year in Connecticut after it viciously attacked the pet’s owner.
