Re: Bear attacks

Why is it that you have few, if any, bear attacks in Yosemite and the Sierra in general? Is it because of the bear management program or an overabundance of food?


Some black bear attacks in other areas:

June 21, 2010 at 2:10 PM
Camper injured by bear near St. Regis
Montana wildlife officials say a Washington state man was injured by a black bear that bit through his tent at a primitive campsite in the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012173851_apmtbearinjurescamper.html

June 16, 2010
Bear attacks man in East Vail
East Vail: Bear hit man working on Spring Hill Road home on the head, knocked him out.
http://www.vaildaily.com/ARTICLE/20100616/NEWS/100619689/-1/RSS


May 25, 2010
Mauling victim gives chilling account of bear attack, ‘He was eating my meat and he was licking the blood and licking himself and just enjoying every bite of it.’
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/813758--mauling-victim-gives-chilling-account-of-bear-attack

May 24, 2010
Bear attacks no novelty in Canada
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/813747



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2010 11:15PM by KenS.

Two reasons that I can think of:

1. Most Sierra parks are "gentrified" compared to some of the other places listed: paved roads, groomed trails, etc. The parks are also very pro-active about how they handle "nuisance" bears, too. The Montana parks & the wilderness of the Great White North really are much more dense and stocked with more mammals than we have here in the Sierra, so I think that there is much more territorial dispute amongst the northern animals, making them more aggressive, perhaps (I have seen pix of meadows in Yellowstone which seemed crammed end to end with bears).

2. Bear cans.

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The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

Quote
KenS
June 21, 2010 at 2:10 PM
Camper injured by bear near St. Regis
Montana wildlife officials say a Washington state man was injured by a black bear that bit through his tent at a primitive campsite in the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012173851_apmtbearinjurescamper.html

I think "it appears the bear was drawn into the area by food" sums up this one quite well. Food in the tent most likely.

Quote

June 16, 2010
Bear attacks man in East Vail
East Vail: Bear hit man working on Spring Hill Road home on the head, knocked him out.
http://www.vaildaily.com/ARTICLE/20100616/NEWS/100619689/-1/RSS

The story smells like a dead fish in the sun. No witnesses and they could find the bear. How convenient.

It will make a grown man cry. This guy is a lifelong hunter. I can only imagine his horror as the bear started to eat him. If I lived in Canada, I would own a rifle and know how to use it. It doesn't sound like he had it on himself when he was attacked.

I just read another story about a British Columbia filmmaker who was charged by a Grizzly. He survived because he pulled his gun out and shot in the air. If I had been in his shoes, I would have aimed straight ahead. He is very lucky.

I just wanted to add this wasn't Gerald Marois' first encounter with a bear. In 2007, he was out hunting when he ran into another bear. He killed it but had to climb a tree when another bear went after him. He was lucky that time. Definitely not nice Yosemite bears.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2010 08:39AM by rightstar76.