mama black bear with cubs attacks florida woman in her garage
I've read a few stories on this already, trying to get a picture as to what exactly happened, but as is typical it's hard to tell -- some reports even said that all five bears attacked, but I'm sure that's not the case. I know some people will think that it was a mother protecting her young, but that's not typical black bear behavior.
For now it seem like maybe the bear was startled and attacked out of fear, feeling trapped, but who knows maybe the reports may be revised to discount that; to be continued...
[QUOTE I know some people will think that it was a mother protecting her young, but that's not typical black bear behavior.
...[/QUOTE] Not necessarily so....
While the element of suprise is certainly a major contributor to black bear attacks on humans , the PERCEIVED threat to a mama bears cubs can definitly cause sudden aggression toward that threat . Black mama bears are protective of their offspring and should never be underestimated , even if the likelyhood of a attack is small there is still no reason to flirt with the percentages.
Getting lost is a way to find yourself.
Originally Posted by Pedaling Fool
[/QUOTE]
I said, "... not typical black bear behavior". It's a well documented fact that black bear mommas don't protect their offspring from humans; however, that's not to say they don't protect their offspring, it seems as though they rely more on the cubs hardwired instinct to climb a tree. However, that's not to say it would never happen, but it's very atypical. My primary point was that people will assume that as the only possible explanation of the attack, especially the way the article was written.
Bears will never find trash in my garbage; I'm so crazy about having a clean trash can that I wash it out even though nothing but clean stuff goes in there
A case of a woman being caught off guard between a bear and it's food source (her garbage).
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,7893060.storyInitial reports said the woman had been attacked by five bears, but officials do not believe that's the case.
"As far as we know there was only one aggressive bear," Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer Lenny Salberg said during a press conference Sunday afternoon.
The trouble I have with campfires are the folks that carry a bottle in one hand and a Bible in the other.
You never know which one is talking.
Glad the lady is ok! One does not expect typically to find Bears in their yard!
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
Please visit: SunnyWalker.Net
I guess I missed it, but where in the article does it say that the bear that attacked was a Mama bear with cubs?
All I read was there were bears of different sizes and one of them attacked the lady.
I pray she recovers quickly with minimal long term effects.
I'm haven't read where any article came out and said it, but this is an excerpt from the OP's article; I highlighted areas that mention cubs:
Excerpt:
"The bears were various sizes so we think it's probably cubs of different maturity and perhaps a mama bear," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said there was at least one bear involved in the attack but couldn't corroborate the report that there had been five bears.
Frana managed to get inside the house, said her husband. Her son found her collapsed in the living room and called 911. She was then taken to a local hospital where she was treated for at least three bear bites and several cuts all over her body.
Frana was released from the hospital Sunday morning and is recovering at home, her husband said.
Wildlife officials are concentrating on finding the bears, and put out traps and searched for them throughout the night.
The attack happened in an area 10 miles from where another woman, 54-year-old Susan Chalfant, was mauled by a black bear while walking her dogs last December.
Although there has been an increase in bear sightings in the area, in general, black bear attacks on humans are highly unusual and occur mainly when a bear feels her cubs are threatened, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
"The bears were various sizes so we think it's probably cubs of different maturity and perhaps a mama bear," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.
with the way the media has become so sensationalist with every story, rushing to report before half of one detail has ever been confirmed, i take everything these days with a grain of salt, and figure the truth won't be sussed out for a week at least, and even then you have to stir things around and pick the most likely scenario of anything
could have well been a racoon in her trashcan
I know this has been posted on the forums before but here is a site with some info on bears in N America:
http://www.bear.org/website/
It is very atypical for black bears to "pounce". Bluff charge - yes, pounce - no.
I am glad that the woman was not more seriously hurt.
I find myself speculating that the bear might have been provoked. Maybe there is more to the story.
<speculation tag> What if the bear was being "chased away" from the delicious treats? Might it act like a wild animal? <end speculation tag>
Yeah, mama bear runs cubs up a tree, then runs off into the bushes to hide. She dont attack. She might bluff.
What I heard on news, was bears were eating garbage. They might try to protect a food source. Some dogs will.
I'm familiar with the area where this happened. There are a number of bears that aren't afraid of humans due to easy trash pickins and bird feeders. Feel bad for the woman but this is purely a people problem.
Something I heard somewhere has always stuck with me. A bear can be chased off while trying to steal your food. Once he has it, it becomes HIS food and will defend it.
Florida wildlife officers shot one aggressive bear and euthanized three others last night. They said the mama bear didn't exhibit normal behavior.
http://www.newsherald.com
mama black bear with cubs attacks florida woman in her garage
it would surprise you how much wildlife is around the orlando metro area. we used to catch boars in my office parking lot in downtown winter park, not far from downtown orlando
Lots of research indicates that bears that are acclimated to humans are usually less dangerous than bears in wilderness areas with little to no human exposure. This is consistent with the observation that the bear in this incident didn't exhibit normal behavior. Unfortunately, I suspect that the vast majority of people hearing these news broadcasts won't get that message.
When watching this video, just fast forward to ~21-minute point; it starts over and you see more of the woman's description of what happened, than if you start at the very beginning. However, I still have questions, but regardless she should not have run.
I still find it very strange that playing dead with a blackbear is the wrong thing to do, but not so with the grizzly.
There's an interesting study going on with the lionfish http://theweek.com/article/index/259...-be-backfiring and it would be interesting to incorporate some of that with problem black bears in certain areas.
I believe it's a relatively simple numbers game...
A typical WILD black bear (i.e. one that is not over-weight from eating from dumpsters) weights about as much as a typical human. So while the bear still is stronger than a human, if you attempt to fight back, you have a chance of convincing the bear you're not worth the effort.
A typical grizzly bear is many times heavier and way much more stronger than a human. Fight back is futile. So your only choice is to play dead hoping the bear quits seeing you as a threat.
Put another way, a human against a black bear is like an SUV and a Mini-Cooper getting into an accident. A human against a grizzly bear is like an SUV and a bicycle getting into an accident.
I'm sure temperment also plays a part in it. But this is NOT the first time I've heard that mama black bears do not attack to protect their young. It seems that that is an attribute of mama grizzly bears that has been improperly attributed to black bears.
That's simply not true. If anything, bears that make a habit of feeding from dumpsters are not as fat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear
Excerpt:
Black bear weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health, and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. Black bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast, although black bears follow Bergmann's rule and bears from the northwest are often slightly heavier than the bears from the southeast. Adult males typically weigh between 57–250 kg (126–551 lb), while females weigh 33% less at 41–170 kg (90–375 lb).[5][37] In the state of California, studies have indicated that the average mass is 86 kg (190 lb) in adult males and 58 kg (128 lb) in adult females.[32] Adult black bears in Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Alaska were found to average 87.3 kg (192 lb) in males and 63.4 kg (140 lb) in females, whereas on Kuiu Island in southeast Alaska (where nutritious salmon are readily available) adult bears averaged an estimated 115 kg (254 lb).[38][39] In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, adult males averaged 112 kg (247 lb) and adult females averaged 47 kg (104 lb) per one study.[40] In Yellowstone National Park, a population study found that adult males averaged 119 kg (262 lb) and adult females averaged 67 kg (148 lb).[41] In New York state, the two sexes reportedly average 135 kg (298 lb) and 74 kg (163 lb), respectively.[42] Adults typically range from 120 to 200 cm (47 to 79 in) in head-and-body length, and 70 to 105 cm (28 to 41 in) in shoulder height. The typically small tail is 7.7–17.7 cm (3.0–7.0 in) long.[34][43][44][45] Although they are the smallest species in North America, large males exceed the size of other bear species except the brown bear and polar bears.[34] The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed 409 kg (902 lb) after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated 500 kg (1,100 lb) in life, and measured 2.41 m (7.9 ft) long.[46] Another notably outsized wild black bear, weighing in at 408 kg (899 lb) in total, was the cattle-killer shot in December 1921 on the Moqui Reservation in Arizona.[46] The record-sized bear from New Jersey was shot in Morris County December 2011 and scaled 376.5 kg (830 lb).[47] Even larger, the most massive black bear recorded in Pennsylvania (one of six weighing over 363 kg (800 lb) shot in the last 15 years in the state) weighed in at 399 kg (880 lb) and was shot in November 2010 in Pike County.[48] The North American Bear Center, located in Ely, Minnesota, is home to the world's largest captive male and female black bears. Ted, the male, weighed 431–453.5 kg (950–1,000 lb) in the fall of 2006.[49] Honey, the female, weighed 219.6 kg (484 lb) in the fall of 2007.[50]
No, it's because the black bear sees you as a food source and the grizzly is simply attempting to protect its young or it's foodsource.
If it was simply a matter of size then you'd be also told to play dead with a polar bear http://nunavutparks.ca/english/visit...ar-safety.html
Excerpt:
"If you experience a polar bear attack use any available weapon such as rocks, blocks of ice, knives, skis or poles."
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote