A bear attack is a violent attack by a bear on another animal, for predation, territoriality or self-defense, although it usually refers to a bear attacking a human or a domesticated animal such as pets and livestock. Bear attacks are of particular concern for those who happen to be around bear habitats and can be fatal, and hikers, campers, fishermen and others in bear country often need to take precautions against bear attacks.
Stephen Herrero, a Canadian biologist, reports that during the 1990s, bear attacks killed around three people a year in the United States and Canada, as compared to the 30 to 50 people killed every year by dogs.
Causes Almost all recorded bear attacks in the wild have resulted from humans surprising them. Hunters are the people most at risk of bear attacks because, as Tom Smith, a U.S. Geographical Survey research biologist, describes, "Hunters typically aren't making any noise, and they sleuth around while wearing camo." Hunters try to be silent and, though many hunters wear reflective clothing so as not to become targets for other hunters, they try to hide their movements so as not to startle game. Most bear attacks result from hunters suddenly appearing in front of them, startling a bear into an instinctive act of aggression.
A bear's first reaction upon detecting a human is to run away. Fergus lists a few possible causes for this instinctive reaction, each a speculation or hypothesis based more on intuition rather than physical evidence. Some speculate that bears inherited their cautious nature from thousands of years ago when they had to be wary of larger and more dangerous carnivores. Some believe that bears have come to relate a human presence to firearms and other ranged weaponry, that they have come to fear. Still others think that hunters tend to target more aggressive bears, thus leaving only the more shy and timid bears to reproduce, creating a population of bears less hostile than before.
Protecting young
One of the most dangerous situations that leads to bear attacks is when a bear perceives a threat to her offspring. Sow bears are very protective of their young, devoting, on their own without any participation of the male bear, many years of their lives just to raise their cubs and teach them to hunt, hence the term "mama bear" to refer to extremely reactive and protective mothers of humans, particularly those who do this without paternal care. While solo bears will usually retreat, a mother bear protecting her cubs is most likely to attack any sudden threat. Black bears present something of an exception to this, however, as mother black bears sometimes urge their cubs to climb trees for safety instead of remaining on the ground to protect their young.
Hunger Another dangerous situation is when a human is faced with a hungry bear that has lost its natural fear of humans. With the decrease of hunting grounds and food crops such as berries and bark, bears often become more desperate and aggressive. However, this hunger has also triggered an unexpected reaction: bears began to follow gunfire because they associate it with dead animals that they can scavenge or steal.
Once a bear claims an animal carcass, it becomes very protective of its kill. This becomes a problem when a bear conveniently claims a hunter's kill, as the hunter may not wish to kill the bear as well. By avoiding a bear over a carcass, the risk of attack is reduced by around 50 percent.
Predatory Bears may act aggressively toward humans even when they are not hungry, protecting a kill, or protecting their young. Most fatal attacks by black bears have been judged as predatory. Bear researcher Stephen Herrero determined that in black bear attacks, the bear acted as a predator in 88 percent of fatal incidents.
Prevention Bear attacks may be prevented by avoiding hiking at dawn or dusk. Additional steps may be taken to prevent attacks such as being loud, traveling in groups, and bear spray/firearms.
Species, and respective aggressiveness
American black bears American black bears are widely distributed throughout much of North America. As of a 1996 count, they are found in nearly all states and provinces in the United States and Canada. States and provinces with particularly high black bear populations include Alaska, British Columbia, and Ontario. Black bears are largely absent from the Great Plains region, as they primarily inhabit forests and mountainous regions. In 1996, it was estimated that there were between 735,000 and 941,000 black bears in the United States and Canada combined. Only seven states and one province had none.
Unlike grizzly bears, which became a subject of fearsome legend among the European settlers of North America, black bears were rarely considered overly dangerous, even though they lived in areas where the pioneers had settled. Black bears rarely attack when confronted by humans, and usually limit themselves to making mock charges, emitting blowing noises and swatting the ground with their forepaws.
According to Stephen Herrero in his Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, 23 people were killed by black bears from 1900 to 1980. The North American Bear Center states that 61 people have been killed by black bears since 1900. The number of black bear attacks on humans is higher than those of brown bears, though this is largely because black bears outnumber brown bears rather than their being more aggressive. Compared to brown bear attacks, violent encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious injury and death. However, the majority of black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality, and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike grizzlies, female black bears do not display the same level of protectiveness toward their cubs, and will seldom attack humans in their vicinity. However, it is a very common occurrence for the American black bear to take food from campsites, and even from time to time break into people's homes to get food.
The worst recorded fatality incident occurred in May 1978, in which a black bear killed three teenagers fishing in Algonquin Park in Canada. The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had become habituated to human contact and food. Between 1964 and 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there were 1,028 documented incidents of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury. These incidents occurred mainly in tourist hotspots, where people regularly fed the bears handouts.
Asian black bears
Though usually shy and cautious animals, Asian black bears are more aggressive toward humans than the brown bears of Eurasia.Bear Anatomy and Physiology from Gary Brown's The Great Bear Almanac, Lyons & Burford, Publishers, 1993. According to Brigadier General R. G. Burton:
E. T. Vere of Srinagar, Kashmir wrote of how his hospital received dozens of black bear victims annually. He wrote that, when attacking humans, black bears will rear up on their hind legs and knock victims over with their paws. They then make one or two bites on an arm or leg and finish with a snap to the head, this being the most dangerous part of the attack. There are no records of predation on humans by Asiatic black bears in Russia"Human-bear interactions" from Status and management of the Asiatic black bear in Russia by Igor Chestin and Victor Yudin in Asiatic Black Bear Conservation Action Plan, chapter 10 of Bears: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan compiled by Christopher Servheen, Stephen Herrero and Bernard Peyton, published by IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group and no conflicts have been documented in Taiwan."Human-bear interactions" from Status and management of the Formosan black bear in Taiwan by Ying Wang in Asiatic Black Bear Conservation Action Plan, chapter 10 of Bears: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan compiled by Christopher Servheen, Stephen Herrero and Bernard Peyton, published by IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group However, in India, attacks on humans have been increasing yearly and have occurred largely in the northwestern and western Himalayan region. In the Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, the number of black bear attacks on humans gradually increased from 10 in 1988–89 to 21 in 1991–92."Human-bear interactions" from Status and management of the Asiatic black bear in India by S. Sathyakumar in Asiatic Black Bear Conservation Action Plan, chapter 10 of Bears: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan compiled by Christopher Servheen, Stephen Herrero and Bernard Peyton, published by IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group Between 2000 and 2025, the wildlife department in India has recorded more than 2,300 bear attacks on humans in the Kashmir region.
Recent bear attacks on humans have been reported from Junbesi and Langtang National Park in Nepal, and occurred in villages as well as in the surrounding forest. Li Guoxing, the second person in history to have received a facial transplant, was a victim of a black bear attack.
Nine people were killed by black bears in Japan between 1979 and 1989, and more recently, in September 2009, a black bear attacked a group of tourists, seriously injuring four, while they were waiting at a bus station in the built-up area of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture in central Japan. The majority of attacks tend to occur when black bears are encountered suddenly, and at close quarters. Because of this, black bears are generally considered more dangerous than sympatric brown bears, which live in more open spaces and are thus less likely to be surprised by approaching humans.A Book of Man Eaters by Brigadier General R. G. Burton, Mittal Publications They are also likely to attack when protecting food."Bear Behaviour and Activities" from Gary Brown's The Great Bear Almanac, Lyons & Burford, Publishers, 1993.
Brown bears
As a rule, brown bears seldom attack humans on sight, and usually avoid people. They are, however, unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened.Bear Attacks: Their Causes and by Stephen Herrero, Hurtig Publishers Ltd./ Edmonton 1985. Sows with cubs account for the majority of injuries and fatalities in North America. Habituated or food-conditioned bears can also be dangerous, as their long-term exposure to humans causes them to lose their natural shyness, and in some cases associate humans with food. Small parties of one or two people are more often attacked than large groups. Only one attack, against a group of 20 elementary students and teachers in 2025, has been recorded against a party of more than seven people. In contrast to injuries caused by American black bears, which are usually minor, brown bear attacks tend to result in serious injury and in some cases death. In the majority of attacks resulting in injury, brown bears precede the attack with a growl or huffing sound, and seem to confront humans as they would when fighting other bears: they rise up on their hind legs, and attempt to "disarm" their victims by biting and holding on to the lower jaw to avoid being bitten in turn. Such a bite can be more severe than that of a tiger, and has been known to crush the heads of some human victims.The living animals of the world; a popular natural history with one thousand illustrations Volume 1: Mammals, by Cornish, C. J., 1858-1906; Selous, Frederick Courteney, 1851-1917; Johnston, Harry Hamilton, Sir, 1858-1927; Maxwell, Herbert, Sir, published by New York, Dodd, Mead and Company.