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All Attacks Articles
If you’ve been watching the news this week you no doubt came across the report of a bear attack near Timmins, Ontario resulting in serious injuries to a 30-year old man, the death of his dog, and the resulting death of the bear. The story is horrible as it is rare and we’re thankful the story didn’t end with the man’s funeral.
As an advocacy group for bears it is difficult for us to hear these stories and they remind us of how important our role of educating people in bear country is to the peaceful co-existence of humans and bears. At the Get Bear Smart Society we believe humans and bears can safely and respectfully coexist and we also believe it takes some intentionality.
That most fatal black bear attacks were predatory and were carried out by 1 bear shows that females with young are not the most dangerous black bears. As a result of our research agencies managing black bear can more accurately understand the risk of being killed by a black bear, and can communicate this to the public. With training, people can learn to recognize the behaviors of a bear considering them as prey and can act to deter predation.
Bear pepper spray is the most effective means of repelling an attacking grizzly or black bear in a non-toxic, non-lethal manner. Although common sense might suggest that guns would provide greater personal protection, research and experience indicates that human-bear encounters that do not involve firearms are less likely to result in injury to a human or bear.
There's a need for officials to come up with a better definition of a bear 'attack.' Calling a single bite to a foot from a 60-pound yearling an attack, when the bite didn't require medical attention, seems a stretch. Lack of knowledge and fear of lawsuits drive decisions to 'play it safe' and kill bears that raise questions. Killing a bear is the easy way out.
Encounters with bears rarely lead to aggressive behaviour and attacks are even rarer. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to bears, but these tips.
Abstract: The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest carnivore in Turkey and has been legally protected since 2003. However, increasing levels of conflict between brown bears and humans have been reported for several regions, especially for Artvin in northeastern Turkey. We documented the conflict in an attempt to understand human attitudes and responses and evaluate existing and potential damage prevention techniques. The study was conducted within landscapes at different scales, ranging from a core area defined by a large valley system to the whole of the Artvin Province. Data on close encounters, injuries, and damage caused were collected through government records, published literature, and open-ended interviews with the local people. On more than two-thirds of close encounters recorded, no harm occurred to bear or people. Bear attacks on humans were rare and only occasionally led to non-fatal injuries. Nevertheless, several bears were shot and killed in the study area during the study (2002–2005), apparently as a consequence of damage experienced by farmers. Interviews indicated a widespread belief that bears have become more of a problem. Bear damage was reported mostly in late summer for field crops and orchards and in spring for beehives. Precautions taken by
villagers relied mostly on locally available technologies and varied in effectiveness against bears. We propose that introduction and implementation of modern techniques of exclusion such as portable electric fences around valuable resources (e.g. bee yards), improvements in bear awareness, and effective cooperation among various stakeholders would reduce human–bear conflict to acceptable levels in the region.
We present a comprehensive look at a sample of bear spray incidents that occurred in Alaska, USA, from 1985 to 2006. We analyzed 83 bear spray incidents involving brown bears (Ursus arctos; 61 cases, 74%), black bears (Ursus americanus; 20 cases, 24%), and polar bears (Ursus maritimus; 2 cases, 2%). Of the 72 cases where persons sprayed bears to defend themselves, 50 (69%) involved brown bears, 20 (28%) black bears, and 2 (3%) polar bears. Red pepper spray stopped bears' undesirable behavior 92% of the time when used on brown bears, 90% for black bears, and 100% for polar bears. Of all persons carrying sprays, 98% were uninjured by bears in close-range encounters. All bear inflicted injuries (n¼3) associated with defensive spraying involved brown bears and were relatively minor (i.e., no hospitalization required). In 7% (5 of 71) of bear spray incidents, wind was reported to have interfered with spray accuracy, although it reached the bear in all cases. In 14% (10 of 71) of bear spray incidents, users reported the spray having had negative side effects upon themselves, ranging from minor irritation (11%, 8 of 71) to near incapacitation (3%, 2 of 71). Bear spray represents an effective alternative to lethal force and should be considered as an option for personal safety for those recreating and working in bear country.
No deterrent is 100% effective, but compared to all others, including firearms, proper use of bear spray has proven to be the best method for fending off threatening and attacking bears, and for preventing injury to the person and animal involved.
Between 1960 and 1998, bears caused 42 serious or fatal human injuries in the Province of Alberta-29 (69%) by grizzly (brown) bears (Ursus arctos) and 13 (31%) by American black bears (U. americanus).
From 1960-97, significantly fewer grizzly bears inflicted about 3 times as many serious injuries (N = 41 versus 14) but the same number of fatal injuries (N = 8) as black bears.
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