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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
What crime did the bear commit, that it deserves to die?! She was only
defending her cubs! Mike http://www.komotv.com/news/9538012.html: Black bear attacks bicyclist in park Story Published: Sep 2, 2007 at 4:14 PM PDT Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 7:33 AM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story NEAR OLLALA, Wash. -- A man was attacked by a bear while mountain biking in the Banner Forest Heritage Park just before noon on Sunday, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials. Spokesman Ron Powers said a 51-year-old Port Orchard man was biking with his two dogs alongside him when the dogs ran ahead and around the bend, then started barking fiercely. The man turned the bend and saw the dogs were barking at a bear. Powers said the bear immediately charged at the man, who tried to use his bike to shield himself from the animal. But the bear managed to injure the man's arm, back, neck and ear before he was able to get back on his bike and ride away. Down the path, the injured man ran into other mountain bikers, who called 911. The man was conscious and alert when he was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. The unidentified man is in serious condition, but is expected to recover. One of the man's dogs is still missing. It is not known whether the dog suffered injuries during the attack. The second dog is said to be OK. Officials evacuated the park and shut it down in order to search for the bear. Powers said if the bear is found, officials plan to kill it. Officials said crews will search through the night until the bear is found. Another bicyclist who was at the park on Sunday told authorities he saw mother bear and two cubs while riding on the trail. Powers said Sunday's attack is a freak accident, stating black bears rarely attack humans and, unless provoked or threatened, will run away. The man or the dogs may have appeared as a threat to the bear, who may have been protecting her cubs, Powers said. Area resident Teri Nelson agrees, while bears are not uncommon at the park, she didn't expect them to be aggressive. "Attacking somebody would make me have second thoughts about walking through this forest by myself," she said. "It's pretty scary." -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... What crime did the bear commit, that it deserves to die?! She was only defending her cubs! Mike http://www.komotv.com/news/9538012.html: Black bear attacks bicyclist in park Story Published: Sep 2, 2007 at 4:14 PM PDT Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 7:33 AM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story NEAR OLLALA, Wash. -- A man was attacked by a bear while mountain biking in the Banner Forest Heritage Park just before noon on Sunday, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials. Spokesman Ron Powers said a 51-year-old Port Orchard man was biking with his two dogs alongside him when the dogs ran ahead and around the bend, then started barking fiercely. The man turned the bend and saw the dogs were barking at a bear. Powers said the bear immediately charged at the man, who tried to use his bike to shield himself from the animal. But the bear managed to injure the man's arm, back, neck and ear before he was able to get back on his bike and ride away. Down the path, the injured man ran into other mountain bikers, who called 911. The man was conscious and alert when he was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. The unidentified man is in serious condition, but is expected to recover. One of the man's dogs is still missing. It is not known whether the dog suffered injuries during the attack. The second dog is said to be OK. Officials evacuated the park and shut it down in order to search for the bear. Powers said if the bear is found, officials plan to kill it. Officials said crews will search through the night until the bear is found. Another bicyclist who was at the park on Sunday told authorities he saw mother bear and two cubs while riding on the trail. Powers said Sunday's attack is a freak accident, stating black bears rarely attack humans and, unless provoked or threatened, will run away. The man or the dogs may have appeared as a threat to the bear, who may have been protecting her cubs, Powers said. Area resident Teri Nelson agrees, while bears are not uncommon at the park, she didn't expect them to be aggressive. "Attacking somebody would make me have second thoughts about walking through this forest by myself," she said. "It's pretty scary." -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! How do you know it was defending cubs? The article only says "may have been", and that there was a report of a bear with two cubs. No guarantee it was the same bear as "bears are not uncommon at the park". There you go leaping to conclusions again, reaffirming your status as the primo number one twit-extraordinaire on usenet. |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Mon, 3 Sep 2007 12:00:50 -0600, "Ist-e Mundus, Furia bundus"
wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message .. . What crime did the bear commit, that it deserves to die?! She was only defending her cubs! Mike http://www.komotv.com/news/9538012.html: Black bear attacks bicyclist in park Story Published: Sep 2, 2007 at 4:14 PM PDT Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 7:33 AM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story NEAR OLLALA, Wash. -- A man was attacked by a bear while mountain biking in the Banner Forest Heritage Park just before noon on Sunday, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials. Spokesman Ron Powers said a 51-year-old Port Orchard man was biking with his two dogs alongside him when the dogs ran ahead and around the bend, then started barking fiercely. The man turned the bend and saw the dogs were barking at a bear. Powers said the bear immediately charged at the man, who tried to use his bike to shield himself from the animal. But the bear managed to injure the man's arm, back, neck and ear before he was able to get back on his bike and ride away. Down the path, the injured man ran into other mountain bikers, who called 911. The man was conscious and alert when he was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. The unidentified man is in serious condition, but is expected to recover. One of the man's dogs is still missing. It is not known whether the dog suffered injuries during the attack. The second dog is said to be OK. Officials evacuated the park and shut it down in order to search for the bear. Powers said if the bear is found, officials plan to kill it. Officials said crews will search through the night until the bear is found. Another bicyclist who was at the park on Sunday told authorities he saw mother bear and two cubs while riding on the trail. Powers said Sunday's attack is a freak accident, stating black bears rarely attack humans and, unless provoked or threatened, will run away. The man or the dogs may have appeared as a threat to the bear, who may have been protecting her cubs, Powers said. Area resident Teri Nelson agrees, while bears are not uncommon at the park, she didn't expect them to be aggressive. "Attacking somebody would make me have second thoughts about walking through this forest by myself," she said. "It's pretty scary." -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! How do you know it was defending cubs? The article only says "may have been", and that there was a report of a bear with two cubs. No guarantee it was the same bear as "bears are not uncommon at the park". There you go leaping to conclusions again, reaffirming your status as the primo number one twit-extraordinaire on usenet. It's a well-known fact that black bears don't attack humans, except to defend their cubs. Do you think it was offended by the color of his outfit?! -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Sep 3, 11:00 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Mon, 3 Sep 2007 12:00:50 -0600, "Ist-e Mundus, Furia bundus" wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message .. . What crime did the bear commit, that it deserves to die?! She was only defending her cubs! Mike http://www.komotv.com/news/9538012.html: Black bear attacks bicyclist in park Story Published: Sep 2, 2007 at 4:14 PM PDT Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 7:33 AM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story NEAR OLLALA, Wash. -- A man was attacked by a bear while mountain biking in the Banner Forest Heritage Park just before noon on Sunday, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials. Spokesman Ron Powers said a 51-year-old Port Orchard man was biking with his two dogs alongside him when the dogs ran ahead and around the bend, then started barking fiercely. The man turned the bend and saw the dogs were barking at a bear. Powers said the bear immediately charged at the man, who tried to use his bike to shield himself from the animal. But the bear managed to injure the man's arm, back, neck and ear before he was able to get back on his bike and ride away. Down the path, the injured man ran into other mountain bikers, who called 911. The man was conscious and alert when he was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. The unidentified man is in serious condition, but is expected to recover. One of the man's dogs is still missing. It is not known whether the dog suffered injuries during the attack. The second dog is said to be OK. Officials evacuated the park and shut it down in order to search for the bear. Powers said if the bear is found, officials plan to kill it. Officials said crews will search through the night until the bear is found. Another bicyclist who was at the park on Sunday told authorities he saw mother bear and two cubs while riding on the trail. Powers said Sunday's attack is a freak accident, stating black bears rarely attack humans and, unless provoked or threatened, will run away. The man or the dogs may have appeared as a threat to the bear, who may have been protecting her cubs, Powers said. Area resident Teri Nelson agrees, while bears are not uncommon at the park, she didn't expect them to be aggressive. "Attacking somebody would make me have second thoughts about walking through this forest by myself," she said. "It's pretty scary." -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! How do you know it was defending cubs? The article only says "may have been", and that there was a report of a bear with two cubs. No guarantee it was the same bear as "bears are not uncommon at the park". There you go leaping to conclusions again, reaffirming your status as the primo number one twit-extraordinaire on usenet. It's a well-known fact that black bears don't attack humans, except to defend their cubs. Do you think it was offended by the color of his outfit?! That bear was probably startled and surprised by the combination of dogs and human on bicycle. It made a panicked decision to attack likely based on something it was tryinig to protect. It certainly does not sound like it was looking for trouble, and it probably would make some effort to avoid this situation again (bears don't like confrontation any more than you do). Black bears, like most bears, will also attack a human (or other possible competitor) to defend a cache of food, be it natural or derived from human sources. Nonetheless, in most locations, including national parks, authorities will rarely, if ever, remove a bear for defending either cubs or food caches. The reasoning, which I believe to be valid, is that, unless the bear attacks because he/she specifically identifies humans as a food source (either because they carry food or because they could *be* food), the bear then represents no further danger beyond what would normally be expected. Bears who behave in this way do not typically repeat attacks, and the original attack can be boiled down to either stupid human tricks or unfortunate happenstance. In this case, it counds like the latter occurred, and it would have been unpreventable. In this case, Mike is right. Unless there is some evidence that the bear intended to make a meal of the biker, and based on the story it certainly does not sound like it, there is no compelling reason to kill it. It should be left alone. Dogs should be leashed, ample signs should warn of bear presence, and bikers should do so at their own risk. Bruce Jensen |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Sep 3, 11:00 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Mon, 3 Sep 2007 12:00:50 -0600, "Ist-e Mundus, Furia bundus" wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message .. . What crime did the bear commit, that it deserves to die?! She was only defending her cubs! Mike http://www.komotv.com/news/9538012.html: Black bear attacks bicyclist in park Story Published: Sep 2, 2007 at 4:14 PM PDT Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 7:33 AM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story NEAR OLLALA, Wash. -- A man was attacked by a bear while mountain biking in the Banner Forest Heritage Park just before noon on Sunday, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials. Spokesman Ron Powers said a 51-year-old Port Orchard man was biking with his two dogs alongside him when the dogs ran ahead and around the bend, then started barking fiercely. The man turned the bend and saw the dogs were barking at a bear. Powers said the bear immediately charged at the man, who tried to use his bike to shield himself from the animal. But the bear managed to injure the man's arm, back, neck and ear before he was able to get back on his bike and ride away. Down the path, the injured man ran into other mountain bikers, who called 911. The man was conscious and alert when he was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. The unidentified man is in serious condition, but is expected to recover. One of the man's dogs is still missing. It is not known whether the dog suffered injuries during the attack. The second dog is said to be OK. Officials evacuated the park and shut it down in order to search for the bear. Powers said if the bear is found, officials plan to kill it. Officials said crews will search through the night until the bear is found. Another bicyclist who was at the park on Sunday told authorities he saw mother bear and two cubs while riding on the trail. Powers said Sunday's attack is a freak accident, stating black bears rarely attack humans and, unless provoked or threatened, will run away. The man or the dogs may have appeared as a threat to the bear, who may have been protecting her cubs, Powers said. Area resident Teri Nelson agrees, while bears are not uncommon at the park, she didn't expect them to be aggressive. "Attacking somebody would make me have second thoughts about walking through this forest by myself," she said. "It's pretty scary." -- I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! How do you know it was defending cubs? The article only says "may have been", and that there was a report of a bear with two cubs. No guarantee it was the same bear as "bears are not uncommon at the park". There you go leaping to conclusions again, reaffirming your status as the primo number one twit-extraordinaire on usenet. It's a well-known fact that black bears don't attack humans, except to defend their cubs. Do you think it was offended by the color of his outfit?! 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. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n2947472.shtml Here's a California DFG listing of black bear attacks in California. Fortunately there's never been a reported human fatality from a black bear attack in California or Nevada. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/be...incidents.html 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. I'd be far more concerned about a grizzly bear sow defending its cubs. 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." |
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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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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Sep 4, 2:29 pm, Bruce Jensen wrote:
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. Sure. However - the attack was for a different reason than a black bear sow defending its cubs. Sometimes it's keeping an unclean camp or other attractant. I just disagree with Vandeman's ill-informed blanket statement that there's only one reason why a black bear would attack a human. 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. Most of the references I've read are that a black bear male mates within a few days, then goes off solo without ever being able to identify its own cubs. 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. That could freak out a bear. I have heard of freak defensive attacks when a bear was surprised. However - it could be a male, female, or juvenile. Again - black bear attacks happen for more reasons than just a sow defending 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. I saw a black bear sow with cubs. It sent one cub up a tree next to the trail, at which point I backed off on the off-chance that it aggressively defended its young. I was certainly cautious, with a good deal of respect that it could cause serious injury if so inclined. It was after I reported my sighting that I heard from rangers/naturalists/etc that black bear sows typically retreat from their cubs when scared off. I've also heard of first-hand reports of someone chasing off a black bear sow with young. http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cbears0jo9.jpg |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
In article ,
Mike Vandeman wrote: It's a well-known fact that black bears don't attack humans, except to defend their cubs. Do you think it was offended by the color of his outfit?! Nope, the BEAR was Offended by the Riders TWO DOGS, that were running loose, out in front of him. The BEAR can't caught the DOGS, and the NEXT thing it encountered was the Rider, so it MUNCHed HIM... Nothing like encountering a ****ed Off BEAR...... Bruce in alaska -- add a 2 before @ |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Sep 4, 2:46 pm, y_p_w wrote:
I saw a black bear sow with cubs. It sent one cub up a tree next to the trail, at which point I backed off on the off-chance that it aggressively defended its young. I was certainly cautious, with a good deal of respect that it could cause serious injury if so inclined. It was after I reported my sighting that I heard from rangers/naturalists/etc that black bear sows typically retreat from their cubs when scared off. I've also heard of first-hand reports of someone chasing off a black bear sow with young. My bro-in-law and I have seen numerous sows with cubs on trails, and in the backcountry at least, typically the sow will become alert, and then take her children away from us as fast as she can go. I agree, the chance of a mom bear with cubs attacking is unlikely, as long as a reasonable buffer or escape route is present. In the front country, this behavior seems to depend alot more on how accustomed to humans the bears are - haivng said that, I have never personally seen aggression - more likely, tolerance or insouciance. I have not seen a mother bear in a tight spot ever, so I can't directly comment on that situation - but that could be what happened, especially if she was surprised. |
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Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park
On Sep 4, 2:54 pm, Bruce in Alaska wrote:
In article , Mike Vandeman wrote: It's a well-known fact that black bears don't attack humans, except to defend their cubs. Do you think it was offended by the color of his outfit?! Nope, the BEAR was Offended by the Riders TWO DOGS, that were running loose, out in front of him. The BEAR can't caught the DOGS, and the NEXT thing it encountered was the Rider, so it MUNCHed HIM... Nothing like encountering a ****ed Off BEAR...... Bruce in alaska -- add a 2 before @ I would not doubt this to be true. |
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