Black Bear Kills a 6 Year Old and Injures two Others!

[Chip]

I'll see them from a different perspective now.

Please don't. That would be like being honestly worried that every cloud was going to become a hurricane, every wave a tsunami and that every breeze was soon going to sweep you up like Dorothy !

Bear in the woods are like sharks in the ocean. Lots of good ideas for movies and books, but very little to actually be worried about;

"The 500,000 black bears in North America kill fewer than one person per 3 years, on the average, despite hundreds of thousands of encounters. To put this in perspective, for each death from a black bear across North America, there are approximately 17 deaths from spiders, 25 deaths from snakes, 67 deaths from dogs, 150 deaths from tornadoes, 180 deaths from bees and wasps, 374 deaths from lightning..."

Anyone afraid of bear should be mind-numbingly terrified to go outside, only because there are so many other ways you are much more likely to die.

 

[ctsparrow]

I have only encountered one bear on a trail and it was a non-incident. I would be far more concerned about coming upon one dumpster diving at resturants around No. Conway etc, as they are actively, and perhaps aggressively seeking food.

I went hiking one time around the hills north of San Francisco, and at the trailhead was a sign warning of mountain lions and it specifically mentioned their attraction to small children..due to their size and general motion patterns...that freaked me out ..i'll stick with the occasional black bear!!

As a mom,though, my heart absolutely breaks for that family. I will keep the info about fight vs play dead in my head..didn't know that one. As that mom, i would fight like hell to protect my cubs.
ctsparrow

 

[Sir Hikesalot]

Every time there is a black bear attack, the bear advocates trot out the well worn myth that black bears are harmless. This is nonsense, black bears are opportunistic predators and will take any prey that seems easy. They have no reason to accord humans a special "protected" status. They have avoided humans in the past because they were heavily hunted. Now that bear hunting is greatly restricted or banned in most areas, bear numbers are climbing and so are the number of incidents. I am glad to see the bears recover, but the fear of bears is not illogical. As Black bear numbers have expanded their wild habitat has shrunk, and the number of adverse encounters will continue to grow.

Remember that old saying about "Dont worry about the bears, they are more afraid of you than you are of them" It's guns they are afraid of, not you.

Bear in the woods are like sharks in the ocean. Lots of good ideas for movies and books, but very little to actually be worried about;

Tell that to the crew of the USS Indianapolis. Why is it when someone vanishes in the ocean, with no witnesses, it's assumed they drowned and when they vanish in the woods, it's assumed they got lost. Only when there are witnesses do the authorities admit a predator consumed them. Frequently, when a skeleton is found with teeth marks in it, we're told that that most likely happened after death, and that hypothermia or some other non-vicious ailment probably killed the person,,, I guess that's another thread.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Remember that old saying about "Dont worry about the bears, they are more afraid of you than you are of them" It's guns they are afraid of, not you.

Bearx are able to tell if the bulge in myh pocket is a gun or.....? Mae West couldn't.