STANDISH (AP) – A teenager taking snapshots of a black bear raiding a bird feeder in his back yard in Standish ended up being the first victim of a bear attack in at least five years in Maine when the animal charged.

Nick Talbot, 18, stepped outside armed with his digital camera Thursday afternoon to take pictures of a large bear that was peacefully munching bird feed in the town near Sebago Lake.

His Labrador retriever barked at about the same time he realized there were two cubs nearby in the woods, said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The mother bear charged and slashed Talbot on the arm, and then stood its ground, baring its teeth and snarling.

“It’s unbelievable how an animal that big is that fast,” Talbot said Friday. “She hit me so hard it knocked me to one side.”

Bear attacks are highly unusual. It has been at least five years since a human was attacked by a bear in Maine, Latti said.

But there have been several instances of close encounters this spring as hungry bears emerged from hibernation.

In Atkinson, a bear devoured two pigs on a farm, prompting residents of the central Maine community to tell their children to stay indoors. And bears killed some sheep on a farm in the southern town of Parsonsfield. In Bridgton, administrators kept schoolchildren inside at recess because of marauding bears.

The bear problem is the biggest in the spring because the animals emerge from their winter slumber at their lowest weight at the same time the natural food supply is at its lowest because berries have yet to emerge.

Talbot didn’t see any problem with taking a few pictures of the bear that he says a game warden estimated to be 450 pounds.

He said he had no idea that there were two cubs nearby when stood about 25 feet away snapping pictures.

The first sign of trouble was when he noticed his dog, Hanna, quietly staring at something and he realized it was the cubs. When he summoned Hanna, the dog saw the mother bear and barked, startling the large bruin.

The dog, caught between the mother and cubs, scrambled back onto the deck and Talbot was trying to follow suit when the bear charged. He said the bear was upon him before he could get to safety.

The injury didn’t require any medical treatment. Talbot said he cleaned the scratch and got a tetanus shot.

Latti said it’s important to remove bird feeders, dog food, garbage or anything else that might be attractive to a hungry bear. “As long as food is available, they will return,” he said.

And the best thing to do if you have a run-in with a bear is to stand your ground, wave your arms and make a lot of noise, he said.

AP-ES-06-11-04 1218EDT