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Old September 4th 07, 10:29 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Bruce Jensen
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Posts: 522
Default Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park

On Sep 4, 1:46 pm, y_p_w wrote:

WTF?

Tell that to the family in Utah whose 11 year old was dragged out of
their tent and killed in June by a male black bear. Male black bears
aren't known for being protective of their cubs. Some are known to
attack cubs, which could include their own young.


Yeah, but we are not at this point talking specfiically about a male
or female bear. There is a reasonable chance that the bear in
question was a female with cubs, based on other testimony. At the
very least, it was surprised.

The Utah incident above also involved some questionable human-food
handling, IIRC.

This is not a challenge, but simply an effort to learn - If you have a
reference for a male bear attacking its own offspring, I would like to
see it. My reading has suggested that males will attempt to kill
other children, but not his own.

Black bear attacks on humans are extremely rare. However - when
attacks do happen, it's for far more reasons than simply defending
cubs. NPS rangers have told me that more often than not, a black bear
sow will run away when scared off by humans. In that case, they'll
typically come back for their cubs later. That doesn't mean caution
isn't warranted around a black bear sow with cubs, because they have
been known to attack.


To reiterate, this bear suddenly found itself confronted with two
screaming dogs and a rapidly moving cyclist. That is not what a
typical hiker would present to a bear, with or without cubs.

I'd be far more concerned about a grizzly bear sow defending its cubs.


No doubt, this is cause for great caution. An attack by a mother bear
is still no excuse for killing the bear. In fact, this very year, an
attack on Jim Cole up at Yellowstone by a mom bear protecting her
baby(s) in an area where people generally if not specifically move
about was treated by simply leaving the bears alone. Cole, OTOH, had
a history of pestering bears to the point of provoking violent
reactions.

NPS will typically only remove bears if they (1) have found humans to
be a reliable source of food and act on that finding, or (2) they have
killed a human and have thus probably found that people taste good.
It is likely that neither one of these things occured here.

http://www.bear.org/Black/Articles/W..._Wildlife.html

"Unlike grizzly bear mothers, black bear mothers seldom attack people
in defense of cubs. Black bear mothers typically bluff or retreat.
Researchers who routinely capture cubs by chasing them up trees have
not been attacked even when they have held the screaming cubs. The
ferocity of mother black bears is one of the biggest misconceptions
about this species."- Hide quoted text -


Maybe true, but I'd hate to test this nugget. Nevertheless, a
surprised bear is a dangerous bear. And, the bear is typically only
dangerous until after the surprise has passed.

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