Canadian Worker Killed by Black Bear

[slbirdnerd]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/canada-fatal-bear-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I see something like this and first, I'm very sorry for the tragedy and the death of the worker. Then second, I'm sorry for the bear. I always find myself wondering "But what went on that the bear attacked?" From all I've learned, a black bear doesn't just walk onto a property and go kill someone for no reason. I wonder if we'll ever know.

[Pedaling Fool]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/canada-fatal-bear-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

...From all I've learned, a black bear doesn't just walk onto a property and go kill someone for no reason...
No, they kill them for food. Not saying that's what happened in this case, we just don't know, but black bears, contrary to popular belief, are predators, especially the farther north they live and the remoteness factors in. They may not make the top 10 or even the top 20 list of Who's Who of Predators, but they are very much predators.


Just as the black bear in this case was most likely being a predator and this was very close to the AT http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/16/bear.attack/index.html?section=cnn_us

[MuddyWaters]

You cannot say a bear will "X" 100% of the time, when it encounters a person.

It simply doesnt happen. You can make broad generalizations but exceptions will always occur.
That shouldnt surprise anyone.

[hkanz]

Black bears eat mostly plants, and most of the meat they eat is from carcasses. Predatory attacks on humans are EXCEEDINGLY rare and in about 40% of these cases the bear has become habituated to eating garbage. I don't know what you're talking about re: desolate northern conditions; there are some very ferocious bears who live in desolate areas and prey on humans, but we call those polar bears, or 'the reason why no one in Churchill locks their doors'.

[peakbagger]

At my former employer we had a landfill that was mostly industrial waste but also got some municipal waste. The bears around the landfill would wait until a town trash truck would arrive. The workers would cover the municipal trash as soon as possible to keep the bears out and we had to equip all the employees with bear spray as the bears would jump on the equipment and try to attack the drivers of the equipment while they were attempting to cover the trash.

[Pedaling Fool]

I don't know what you're talking about re: desolate northern conditions...No one said, "desolate northern conditions", so not sure what you're saying here or who exactly you're responding to.

[Solitude501]

Hope my wife doesn't read this, hard enough to get her in the woods now. She worries about bears.

[Seatbelt]

Hope my wife doesn't read this, hard enough to get her in the woods now. She worries about bears.

Took the words right out of my mouth, no way am I allowing my wife to read this one........

[hkanz]

No one said, "desolate northern conditions", so not sure what you're saying here or who exactly you're responding to.

I was unsuccessfully trying to respond-with-quote to your comment re: further north & remote. :) Unless by remote you simply mean far away from human habitation, but I don't see how that has anything to do with diet (unless you are referring to the fact that they don't eat garbage).

[Pedaling Fool]

No, they kill them for food. Not saying that's what happened in this case, we just don't know, but black bears, contrary to popular belief, are predators, especially the farther north they live and the remoteness factors in. They may not make the top 10 or even the top 20 list of Who's Who of Predators, but they are very much predators.


Just as the black bear in this case was most likely being a predator and this was very close to the AT http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/16/bear.attack/index.html?section=cnn_us


I was unsuccessfully trying to respond-with-quote to your comment re: further north & remote. :) Unless by remote you simply mean far away from human habitation, but I don't see how that has anything to do with diet (unless you are referring to the fact that they don't eat garbage).
I said "especially farther north..." because that seems to be the case from what I've read, but I admit I'm not totally sure. If you look at the number of black bear attacks it seems like the ones farther north are the more aggressive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America

I also remember reading somewhere that black bears in remote areas don't know to fear humans and the larger males are more likely to attack a person for the reason of predation, will have to look that up though.

Now, what causes that (if it's true) I'm not totally sure of. Is this because it's typically more remote there and they don't know to fear humans or is it because they are under more of a pressure to fatten up, especially directly before and after hibernation, since the winters are much longer up there??

However, still I understand that blackbears are not major predators, including the ones up north, opting more to be opportunistic feeders on their meat, but still they do occasionally hunt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVkaMqD5mI

This is an interesting video by Dr. Stephen Herrero on Black Bear predation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7yoIheOrTc



BTW, I also believe that the smaller and easier the prey the more apt a black bear is to attack, such as in the case of the link in my first post. That was an attack on a child. I'd be willing to bet that a black bear would be very tempted to attack a small child as a foodsource.