Bear Attacks
Advice and Information

Travel Safety - Bear Attacks information

Bear attacks happen fairly frequently, probably because they can look cuddly and many people associate bears with teddies, Yogi or Baloo, and don't give these powerful, deadly predators enough respect.
The people involved usually get more than just a hug.

Polar Bear - the largest land based carnivore. They can drag whales out of holes in the ice and stamp on seal lairs until they collapse. They are probably the most dangerous bear.
The best place to see them close-up is with the extremely experienced people of Churchill, Manitoba in Canada - see Arctic Circle.

Brown or 'Grizzly' Bear - not as big as its polar cousin but still big enough to kill a man with a single swipe of its paw. However these bears tend to attack humans only if startled or with young.
If touched by a Grizzly, curl into a ball and play 'dead'. If it continues to attack, fight back.

Black Bear - close, smaller relatives of the brown animals. These critters rarely attack humans, but will if they are starving.
Because they are relatively small, extreme aggression is the best tactic with this animal.
Playing 'dead' with black bears does NOT work.

Bear Facts:
In British Columbia, Canada there are around seven attacks a year on average with about one fatality every two years. Grizzlies account for half of these despite there being ten times as many Black Bears.

One swipe of a paw can disembowel or decapitate a man.

Starving bears are particularly dangerous animals, and much of this is through our own doing. For instance the small and normally passive Sun Bear of Borneo, Indonesia has recently started launching itself at people. Logging and non-fruiting of their trees are blamed for their recent aggression.

North America and Canada are the best areas for bear viewing but Russia is also a possible destination for the larger bears.

Bears standing on their hind legs are probably just checking you out, not planning on lunch, so be cool and slowly back off.

Advice on Avoiding Attacks
There are two kinds of attacks:

1] Defense - where you surprise or upset the animal, perhaps a mother with cubs. In this case it will show anger, but simply wants you removed as a threat, not to kill you.

2] Hunger - where the critter sees you as meat and two legs. It may stalk you and will not display anger symtoms, but it's intent is deadly. So the bear necessities are...

- Pack your food in airtight containers, and/or store it at least 50ft [18m] from your campsite.

- Never feed wild animals.

- Avoid areas where bears feed such as fruit groves and streams with fish.

- Do not hike alone, and make noise when on the move so the bear is not surprised by you.

- Carry a bear repellent spray with you if you can get it. It's apparently effective 75% of the time.

- Never approach a mother bear or her cubs.

- If the animal has yet to see you and is wandering by or is up on its hind legs sniffing the air but still has not noticed you, stay absolutely still and make no noise whatsoever, or leave the scene very quietly if you think you can without being spotted.
If the bear does see you it will probably not bother you anyway.

- Never run from a bear. They can run much faster than you [up to 30mph] and running may trigger a chase response from the animal that would otherwise not bother.