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[at-l] More on that Bear Attack



From http://www.awalkinthewoods.com written by Erik Plakanis.

"According to Park Service trackers, what probably happened was the sow and
her cub came across the woman while she was laying down, maybe napping. They
made contact, and then the woman got up and ran a short distance. The sow
caught her and brought her down. She got up again, and was cornered by the
two bears when the fatality occurred.

Her daypack was untouched. The bears were not large. The sow weighed 112 lbs
and the yearling weighed 40. The average summer weight of a sow in the Park
is about 175, but 150 is pretty much expected in May. This particular sow
had three cubs heading into last winter, but was down to one this spring.
The fall acorn crop was poor and a lot of bears went into den underweight.
However, many bears starve to death in the Park, and there has never been a
case of human predation before in the entire southeast.

People have reported that the bear's posturing over the body was proof of
predation. I am not an expert on black bear predation, but I will say that
when a bear gets a hold of a backpack, it claims it. It is a very foolish
and difficult task to retrieve a backpack from a black bear once it begins
eating the contents. From what I heard about the behavior of the animals
while they were trying to recover the body, it is in line with the behavior
I have seen surrounding a claimed pack.

Outside of the loss to the family and community for this very respected
teacher, one of the most disturbing aspects of this is that by all
indications, this was a truly wild and natural bear. We are all taught that
in its wild and natural state, a black bear associates human beings with
death, destruction and all things bad. When made aware of the presence of
humans, a black bear will leave the area. Normally what is required to alter
this behavior, is for the animal to be corrupted by exposure to human food
or garbage. After a few positive experiences, they begin to associate humans
with food and lose there fear. This is when they usually become a nuisance
and pose a danger to people and property. Once a bear gets habituated to
human food in the Park, their life expectancy drops to less than a year.

Historically, however, somewhere around 90% of black bear caused fatalities
are from animals completely in their wild and natural state. In fact, when
it comes to fatalities, it seems that lack of experience with human beings
is a bigger contributor; they simply do not know what dangerous animals
humans are.

Does this incident mark a change in black bear behavior to human beings? No.
With somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 black bears in North America, and
at least 350,000,000 humans, fatal black bear attacks are still one of the
rarest events in nature. In recorded history, there have only been a total
of 43 fatal black bear attacks in all of North America. In the Great Smoky
Mountains NP alone, we get 10 million people a year coming through an 800
square mile area with a black bear population of over 1,800 animals. Feeding
bears food from their hands, chasing cubs through the woods with video
cameras, mobs surrounding trees a family of bears has taken refuge in,
restaurants baiting bears for the viewing pleasure of their guests ... these
are just some examples of ridiculous behavior that takes place every year
with surprisingly little cost in human lives.

Do we need to change our behavior towards black bears? No. Black bears
demand respect, but not fear from backcountry users. While in the
backcountry we are visiting their home. Taking proper precautions with food,
enjoying sightings of these animals from a respectful distance, leaving bear
cubs alone, these things will continue to provide safe enjoyable backcountry
experiences for millions of users. Please do not take firearms into the
Great Smoky Mountains NP. It is against the law, and you will be bringing in
a real danger to battle imaginary ones. If you are too concerned to feel
safe in the Park without a gun, you probably do not need to be there.

The ongoing rumors concerning foul play stem from three sources: 1. The fact
that a fatal black bear attack had never before occurred in the Southeast.
2. The fact that the woman was out with her ex-husband (in the process of
reconciling). 3. The long time interval between initial contact and
contacting the Park Service. These rumors will persist for at least a couple
more months; on Friday the coroner announced he will not release any
preliminary findings from the victim's autopsy until the final report is
completed 2 to 3 months from now.

A committee of Park Service employees, the trackers, and bear experts from
around the country will study the results from the woman's autopsy, the
bear's necropsy, and the tracker's report to produce a final report on the
incident later this year."


coosa@fox21.net
Trail Angel, Flatwater Kayaker, AT Section Hiker, and Nana!

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