Boy Mauled by Bear Pays a Visit to His Rescuers, Friends : Outdoors: Joshua Isaacs was treated for bites to his head. The Ojai youth returns to the mountain camp for thanks and goodbys.

BARTON FLATS — An Ojai boy who was mauled by a bear on his last day of camp in the San Bernardino National Forest returned to the scene of the attack Thursday to thank counselors for saving him and say goodby to his friends before heading home.

Joshua Isaacs, 13, gobbled a vanilla ice cream cone at Camp Wasewagan and told his friends about the fright he felt when a black bear ripped off part of his scalp earlier this week.

“I was really scared,” he said. “But now I’m mostly tired.”

After the attack Tuesday, Joshua was rushed to Bear Valley Community Hospital, where he received 150 stitches in the back and top of his head. He remained hospitalized until Thursday morning.

Animal trackers equipped with rifles and bloodhounds continued to search for the bear late Thursday, scouring the Barton Flats area of the park.

State Department of Fish and Game biologists, who called the attack unusual, said they planned to kill the bear and determine what caused its aggressive behavior.

As Joshua’s friends admired the big, white turban of a bandage on his head, Joshua bantered with the camp’s director, P. J. Wade, who treated him to the ice cream come and gave him a large stuffed animal--a bear.

“I get bit by a bear, and you give me a bear to make me feel better?” Joshua said, laughing.

“It’s because I can’t bear to be apart,” Wade replied, as Joshua rolled his eyes.

The boy’s mother, Bonnie Isaacs, who had arrived Wednesday, joined in: “I think he must have said something to the bear’s mother to make it mad.”

Bridget Moore, 14, a classmate of Joshua’s at Matilija School in Ojai and one of the 162 children attending the camp, cried when she saw that her friend was OK.

“When he left he looked terrible because there was blood everywhere,” she said. “It was really horrible.”

The Isaacs family arrived home Thursday evening.

The attack occurred shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday when the bear walked over several camp counselors sleeping in a gazebo-like cabin before biting Jason Kozelski, 23, of Boulder, Colo., on the head and Suus Verharr, 19, an exchange student from the Netherlands, on the elbow.

The animal then headed for Joshua, who was sleeping on an incline under a pine tree away from the other campers. Joshua thought the bear might have been attracted to him because his clothes smelled like the dining hall, where he worked to help pay his camp fees.

Counselor Njal Hansen, 20, of Denmark heard Joshua screaming and thought the boy was having a nightmare. He then mistook the bear for a raccoon and kicked it, leading it to stand up. Hansen scooped up the boy and dragged him away from the bear.

While other counselors roused the rest of the campers and hurried them to safety, Hansen tried to scare the bear away.

“It was tall and it had blood dripping from its mouth,” Hansen said Thursday. “I stood there and yelled at it but it wouldn’t go away.”

Hansen then tried serenading the bear with camp songs. “I read somewhere that if you sing, the bear will go away.”

Once all the campers were out of danger, Hansen made a quick retreat, the angry bear still holding its ground.

“I’ve never seen a bear before,” he said. “And I never want to see one again.”

Joshua, who plans to become a zoologist, said he didn’t blame the bear but was eager to get home to his pet rat, Stripe, and his collection of books by action-fantasy writer Piers Anthony, his favorite author.

“I actually like bears,” he said. “This one just wasn’t very nice.”

An estimated 300 bears live in the San Bernardino National Forest, wildlife officials said.

At the Barton Flats ranger station, volunteer Dorothy Fotheringham said she hoped the bear who bit Joshua won’t be captured.

“I’ve worked here for seven years and bears come through all the time and we’ve never had a problem,” she said. “The problem seems to be the kids and the food.”