Black bear attacks mountain biker in Washington State park

On Sep 17, 7:02 pm, "Ryan Robbins" wrote:
"Jeff Strickland" wrote in message

news:4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06...

AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these days.

Really? And I take it that you're basing this assumption on a couple of news
reports which, by definition, report things that are unusual. Attacks by
black bears are rare. Fatal attacks are even rarer still. Here in Maine, we
have the largest black bear population east of the Mississippi. I don't
recall ever hearing of even so much as an attack by a black bear here. I
have had four black bear encounters since June, one only 25 feet from a
mother bear and her cub. And every time the bear didn't make any attempt to
attack. On three occasions, the bears took off. On one occasion, the bear
just kept eating nuts, not minding the discharge of my flash.

Among the dozens and dozens of "bear awareness" websites, here is an
interesting one. I don't necessarily agree with her obsrevational
methods - howevre, when it comes to the observational and factual
information, this discussion seems to get it really close to "on the
nose." In short, it isn't necessary to freak over black bears, and
hungry bears do not equal more attacks on humans.

http://www.bearsmart.com/bearFacts/TruthAboutBears.html

Bruce Jensen

"Ryan Robbins" wrote in message
news:XkGHi.2194$yO2.866@trndny01...

"Jeff Strickland" wrote in message
news:4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06...
AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these
days.

Really? And I take it that you're basing this assumption on a couple of
news reports which, by definition, report things that are unusual. Attacks
by black bears are rare. Fatal attacks are even rarer still. Here in
Maine, we have the largest black bear population east of the Mississippi.
I don't recall ever hearing of even so much as an attack by a black bear
here. I have had four black bear encounters since June, one only 25 feet
from a mother bear and her cub. And every time the bear didn't make any
attempt to attack. On three occasions, the bears took off. On one
occasion, the bear just kept eating nuts, not minding the discharge of my
flash.


You and I are in complete agreement, the nature of black bears is that they
avoid human contact if they can.

My point is that in the west we have had years of drought and the food
supply is diminished, causing the bears to be more agressive than they would
otherwise be. Mike is suggesting that the cause of the agression is the
mountain bike, I am suggtesting that the bike rider simply ended up in the
wrong place at the wrong time, and found a hungry bear that was also
defending her cubs.

The drought in the west is not an assumption, by the way.

On Sep 18, 8:36 am, "Jeff Strickland" wrote:
"Ryan Robbins" wrote in message

news:XkGHi.2194$yO2.866@trndny01...







"Jeff Strickland" wrote in message
news:4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06...
AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these
days.

Really? And I take it that you're basing this assumption on a couple of
news reports which, by definition, report things that are unusual. Attacks
by black bears are rare. Fatal attacks are even rarer still. Here in
Maine, we have the largest black bear population east of the Mississippi.
I don't recall ever hearing of even so much as an attack by a black bear
here. I have had four black bear encounters since June, one only 25 feet
from a mother bear and her cub. And every time the bear didn't make any
attempt to attack. On three occasions, the bears took off. On one
occasion, the bear just kept eating nuts, not minding the discharge of my
flash.

You and I are in complete agreement, the nature of black bears is that they
avoid human contact if they can.

My point is that in the west we have had years of drought and the food
supply is diminished, causing the bears to be more agressive than they would
otherwise be. Mike is suggesting that the cause of the agression is the
mountain bike, I am suggtesting that the bike rider simply ended up in the
wrong place at the wrong time, and found a hungry bear that was also
defending her cubs.

I think you're on the right track, but I am doubtful that the cubs
play into it (it isn't at all obvious that the attacking bear even had
cubs, despite the reported presence of a momma bear with cubs in the
area) - I think the dogs probably got the bear more riled up than
anything, and the biker wound up in the midst of it, an easy target
for the angry, panicky bruin.

Either way, I think it pays to exercise caution in bear country. This
guy had loose dogs and was zipping along on a bike where visibility
apparently was not excellent. It doesn't sound really smart, or
really careful, to me. His actions were at best a gamble, and on this
spin, he lost the bet.

Bruce Jensen

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:36:17 GMT, "Jeff Strickland"
wrote:


"Ryan Robbins" wrote in message
news:XkGHi.2194$yO2.866@trndny01...

"Jeff Strickland" wrote in message
news:4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06...
AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these
days.

Really? And I take it that you're basing this assumption on a couple of
news reports which, by definition, report things that are unusual. Attacks
by black bears are rare. Fatal attacks are even rarer still. Here in
Maine, we have the largest black bear population east of the Mississippi.
I don't recall ever hearing of even so much as an attack by a black bear
here. I have had four black bear encounters since June, one only 25 feet
from a mother bear and her cub. And every time the bear didn't make any
attempt to attack. On three occasions, the bears took off. On one
occasion, the bear just kept eating nuts, not minding the discharge of my
flash.


You and I are in complete agreement, the nature of black bears is that they
avoid human contact if they can.

My point is that in the west we have had years of drought and the food
supply is diminished, causing the bears to be more agressive than they would
otherwise be. Mike is suggesting that the cause of the agression is the
mountain bike, I am suggtesting that the bike rider simply ended up in the
wrong place at the wrong time,

Yes! The only right place for a mountain biker is on pavement.

and found a hungry bear that was also
defending her cubs.

The drought in the west is not an assumption, by the way.

--
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

On Sep 18, 8:13 am, Puppet_Sock wrote:
On Sep 17, 11:40 am, y_p_w wrote:
[snip]

The people killed by black bears are aberrations.

I think you mean to say that the killing of people
by black bears is an aberration, not that the people
are...

Perhaps a little of both. One would be the aberration where people
are recklessly careless/clueless, and the other would be a bear that
would engage in a predatory attack against a person.

Oh. You were talking about Mickey.

That too. ;-)

In article 4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06,
"Jeff Strickland" wrote:

AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these days.
It seems the bears are responding to a shortage in the food chain that has
resulted from several years of drought in the western states.




As it turns out, you have no idea of which you speak.......

In article RfSHi.4216$Bm1.2351@trnddc01,
"Jeff Strickland" wrote:

"Ryan Robbins" wrote in message
news:XkGHi.2194$yO2.866@trndny01...

"Jeff Strickland" wrote in message
news:4NBHi.2751$io2.196@trnddc06...
AS IT TURNS OUT, black bears are attacking all sorts of people these
days.

Really? And I take it that you're basing this assumption on a couple of
news reports which, by definition, report things that are unusual. Attacks
by black bears are rare. Fatal attacks are even rarer still. Here in
Maine, we have the largest black bear population east of the Mississippi.
I don't recall ever hearing of even so much as an attack by a black bear
here. I have had four black bear encounters since June, one only 25 feet
from a mother bear and her cub. And every time the bear didn't make any
attempt to attack. On three occasions, the bears took off. On one
occasion, the bear just kept eating nuts, not minding the discharge of my
flash.


You and I are in complete agreement, the nature of black bears is that they
avoid human contact if they can.

My point is that in the west we have had years of drought and the food
supply is diminished, causing the bears to be more agressive than they would
otherwise be. Mike is suggesting that the cause of the agression is the
mountain bike, I am suggtesting that the bike rider simply ended up in the
wrong place at the wrong time, and found a hungry bear that was also
defending her cubs.

The drought in the west is not an assumption, by the way.



Hey Dufus, this happened in Western Washington State, where there ISN'T
a drought, and hasn't been in a number of years. There is plenty of
Bear Chow available, this time of year. The Bike Riders DOGGIE,
precipitated the whole incident, by suprising The bear, in question.
There were NO cubs present during the attack. The only Statement about
Cubs, WAS, that a sow with cubs was seen in the vacinity, earlier, and
this "MAY" have been the same Bear. The actual attcking bear, was never
identified, or it's sex identified, during, or after, the incident.

At least get the FACTS straight, before you make your WildAssed
Assumptions, and presenting them as some sort of opinion, or fact......

In North America(from a bears point of view)there are only 2 types of
animal bears and bear food.

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

As a person who grew up in Alaska, I can say that black bears are
temperamental.

jimbat

Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
wrote:
Mike, your ignorance of wildlife and factless statements become irritating.

True.

While black bear attacks on humans are rather rare, as a carnivore, they can
and do attack humans from time to time. The probability of an attack is
measured in the 1 to 400 million or more (given the number of recreational
visitor days a year in black bear country).

I assume all of that is correct. I don't see it as
significant, one way or another. If you are in bear
country... *do* be concerned.

It isn't. But you don't have them where you live Floyd. And by 2020 or
so you won't have polar bears either.

The motivation for the attack
can range from protecting cubs (and yes I would suggest this is one of the
more common reasons),


Startling them.

That is common _only_ for brown bears.

No.

to being startled or surprised by human (usually
hikers on a trail) appearing in their path,

Again, _only_ for brown bears.


No.
to viewing humans as a
competitor (i.e., protecting a food source)

Brown bears!

Black bears aren't anything like brown bears.


Very true, although some 'black bears' are brown.


[...]


jimbat