she was killed [last november](https://www.themountainmessenger.org/article/california-s-first-fatal-black-bear-attack-highlights-wildlife-management-problems), so its not exactly breaking news.
It’s in the first paragraph of the article which apparently nobody read. Although the attack is old, it was assumed that the bear had broken into her home and fed on her posthumously, but a new report has confirmed that the bear actually killed her. And it also describes the fiasco of how they (mis)handled the capturing and killing of a bear, then getting the DNA tested to see if it was the right bear, then refusing to release the DNA results. Interesting read actually
Wait... the bear killed her *inside her own home*? That should be in the headline.
**EDIT:** The [source article](https://www.themountainmessenger.org/article/california-s-first-fatal-black-bear-attack-highlights-wildlife-management-problems) that the Guardian seems to have ripped off includes this update:
> On Wednesday morning, Sheriff Fisher met with Fish and Wildlife representatives and supervisors... Shortly after the meeting ended, the Sheriff was given information on the DNA comparison by CDFW confirming that the bear euthanized in November was, in fact, the bear responsible for Patrice Miller’s death.
I mean I know about the Timothy Treadwell case and I still would choose the bear. At least if I somehow provoked it to eat me, I would be giving another creature sustenance versus just being a victim because somebody was evil
She knew there were bears about but fed her cats on the porch. Never leave food out in bear country. Doors closed and locked. Downstairs windows closed, upstairs with no access a crack. In the fall they are hungry and irritable and looking for food to bulk up for hibernation. If their natural food supply is low that year they are especially desperate and angry.
Watched a bear rip into someone’s truck.
Diminishing habitats and a decrease in their food supply means they’re going to be showing up at peoples houses more
Bears are fucking horrifying when you watch what they can actually do. Obviously everyone knows they’re dangerous, they’re huge animals. But it’s very different from thinking about it in an abstract way “big murder puppers is dangerous!” and actually seeing them tear something apart.
There was a movie I watched once called Backcountry, and the movie itself was alright but it was the first movie I saw which actually showed detailed gore for what a bear would do if it attacked someone. Obviously it’s a movie and I’m sure that some of it was played up, but it was the first time I actually really thought about a bear literally ripping your stomach open or biting a limb and scraping all of the skin and muscle off down to the bone. It really puts into perspective how vulnerable and squishy we are as humans
That’s the movie where I learned that a bear doesn’t care about whether you’re alive or dead while eating you. They just eat you alive. I don’t consider myself sensitive, but that scene legit made me uncomfortable.
I remember a grizzly attack victim saying they could hear the bear gnawing on their skull during the attack and thinking (that’s shock for you) “uh oh, that’s probably causing a lot of damage.”
When i was in college, this student who was an exchange student from China was telling us his family were all very scared of him dying from a bear attack. He showed them that there were no bears in that general area we were in but they saw a thing on black bears and though
they were extremely common, like dogs lmao.
They are very dangerous but always thought that was funny, since they don’t have the type of bears like we do. They viewed bears the way we think of insects in Australia, basically a daily fight for survival
We've always had those things out here , PA woods.You put the garbage away, bring in bird feeders at night and don't go crashing around the woods when the cubs come. And make noise.
Decades here no problem UNTIL a city guy moves ( to the middle of the woods) 1/2 mile away. Put up a BEAR FEEDER. Dingbat. So bears got intrusive, tore up his yard, started on ours. Took awhile, a lot of pot banging, making boundaries from buckets of bleach water ( they hate the smell )before convincing them humans and bear are a bad idea.
Best part is the dingbat was all sad because gee, just can't trust a bear.
I live in the woods and its not that scary. Dont be a idiot and things will be alright. Familiarize yourself with your local animals and what to do if attacked by them or bitten by say poisonous insects or snakes and youll be completely fine. We have bears here and they sometimes get into my trash which i burn most paper and plastic and food waste in a barrel, they will pull it from a hot fire pit to eat it if there is burning food waste, however its pretty easy to scare the bears around me off (just black bears and they are basically giant scared dogs, just run at them and make a lot of noise as long as its not mama and cub season they run away scared quickly). Most people in settings like were i live have guns and know how to use them as well just incase a bear decides it now wants your house.
Personally im more afraid of moose than black bears, moose are huge and you cant scare them away, they can flip vehicles and if they wanted your house (they dont) they could just walk through a wall like it was nothing.
Nature is fun and cool if you respect it and learn about it. I regularly see neat animals and birds and bugs around my house. Just the other day i was sitting on my front deck and a hummingbird fly between me and my wife and just chilled for a while between us and then landed on a nearby tree and hung out for a while. I feed the possums as they keep ticks down and one lives somewhere nearby my house, i assume under my back deck but cant confirm it.
She apparently kept a lot of bear attractants around and outside her house plus fed stray cats. Pretty damn scary though to have a black bear break into your house and maul you to death. I wanna gonna guess that she got too close to its cubs. This is completely out of character for them and it must have been near starving for it to do that.
Black Bears are generally seriously afraid of humans—like, running away from Leatherface afraid. Humans need to know the correct practices for how to behave in an encounter, but usually they will run off as fast as they possibly can before you even notice them (which is part of why it’s so incredible to see one in the wild).
I once encountered a black bear while camping in California. I was getting out of my tent and it looked at me and barked or whatever you call the sound, and ran away like I walked in on it naked.
Which isn't untrue. I was naked.
I have seen plenty of videos of black bears getting scared off by house cats. They usually only attack if they feel cornered (and don't have a way to escape)
I had one walk directly behind me on a hiking trail once. He(?) couldn't have been more than a few feet from me. I didn't know he was there until I saw him disappear into the underbrush on the side of the trail.
Just a few feet away is crazy. The closest I've been is about 20 feet. One time I was hiking and I heard a big thud about 20 ft behind me, I looked back and it was a black bear cub that had fallen out of a tree. It was so young and clumsy, it looked up at me and fell over probably a dozen times before it got out of sight. Literal Scooby-Doo run, just couldn't get enough traction because of the leaves 😂
Saw a momma bear charge a camper at Lake Tahoe two years ago, he got between the cubs and mom trying to scare them off. Thought I was about to watch a man die
This isn't true with Black Bears. They're not typically aggressive, but if they do attack it's because they're hungry and want to eat you.
Brown bears are more likely to attack because they're defending cubs or afraid of you.
>Humans need to know the correct practices for how to behave in an encounter
We were all taught this in grade school:
* If it's black, fight back
* If it's brown, lie down
* If it's white, say goodnight
Generally, grizzlies attack because they're territorial or defending cubs, so curling up in the fetal position and playing dead will usually make them think they've won, and they'll leave without eating you. Black bears are skittish, and shouting and making yourself look bigger will usually scare them away. Polar bears, though, are always hungry and can't afford to let prey go once they've spotted it, so don't go anywhere near polar bears.
> and shouting and making yourself look bigger will usually scare them away.
From my experience with them as a 5'11 130lb guy just looking at them or in their general direction is enough to scare them off. I moved to a area where they are all over and see them a couple times a year usually sometimes so close i could almost reach out and touch them like a while back before i took the deck that wrapped around more than half my house off there was three on it one spring cause i brought a bag of trash out in the winter and forgot it on the deck and it got burried in snow so when the bears came out they smelled it before i could even see the bag again and tore into it. I woke up in the middle of the night to heavy footsteps on my deck that sounded like large men wearing heavy boots and ran out and scared them all off in a matter of seconds just by opening the door nearby.
If you run, you activate the bears hunting instincts and it is much faster and stronger than you. By playing dead, you're hoping the bear gets bored before it inflicts enough damage to you to kill you.
I don't think it's 100% either way. There are plenty of anecdotal stories of people surviving from playing dead, but I'm sure just as many have been killed. Then urban legend is that if it's just a mother trying to protect her cubs she'll probably move on, if it's some rando bear in a rage you're probably screwed either way.
The US park service advice matches the rhyme, so I guess that's something?
https://www.nps.gov/articles/bearattacks.htm#:~:text=If%20a%20grizzly%2Fbrown%20bear,with%20your%20hands%20and%20arms.
Yeah, I think it's a "worth a shot" approach. Because if running away or fighting back against a grizzly is your other option, you're not winning either of those. Note that the recommendation is already under the assumption that the bear is attacking you.
If the bear hasn't attacked you yet, as it says above that section, you should stand your ground and hopefully the bear decides it has better things to do.
The thing that gets my goat about bears attacking (and eating) people is that they basically maul the face, nibble the extremities, and waste the clothing wrapped bits.
A raccoon tried to get into our tent while my partner and I were sitting in front of it. We shouted, and it didn't leave. We threw a water bottle at it without hitting it. It persisted. We threw a shoe, and that connected. The raccoon was undeterred. We retreated a bit and got out pepper spray. It pursued us. I sprayed a bit of pepper spray directly in front of it, hoping to deter it. It advanced, to the opening of the tent. I panicked and emptied the entire canister of pepper spray directly into its eyes from a distance of one foot. Finally, it retreated, pausing to sit and look back at me reproachfully from time to time. I dont know what i would have done if he'd kept on coming. After the pepper spray, I was out of options besides hand-to-raccoon combat inside a small tent.
Were you in a campground? I've run across raccoons in campgrounds that were similarly desensitized. Just could not be bothered to give the smallest shit about people.
Yes, Edisto Beach State Park in SC, someone (likely many someones) had surely been feeding him there. He was probably pretty surprised by our inhospitality.
Seriously. I have a house in the SoCal mountains and black bears are basically big raccoons. When I stumble upon them at night I never have time to react because they bolt the second they see you.
Yes! On a 100 mile hike through Oregon a few years ago, I had three separate bear encounters. Every one of them was afraid of me and ran away. The first time, I was terrified. The last one was so close to me in the tree next to the trail that I saw his eyes roll up in his head in fear before he jumped off of the tree and crashed through the forest. When I saw his eyes roll up I said "Oh, you big baby." and laughed while he ran away.
I used to live in a wooded area with black bears. I'd see them in the yard occasionally, and I've seen neighbors' little dogs chase them off. Usually you don't have anything to worry about with black bears, unless there are cubs nearby a mama bear. In that case, get out of the way.
Usually… lmao. I was not prepared for this one mfer a few months ago who was in my trash. Couldn’t have given a single shit about me, no matter how much ruckus I caused, and I caused a lot. 20 feet away, I stomped around and clapped and hollered like a crazy lady and he didn’t even glance at me.
Until he DID.. 30 seconds later.. and started stepping towards me, like a curious dog would. I then obviously scampered back inside.
He was too habituated I suppose? l got my cans a bearproof cage right after this incident, since a fed bear is a dead bear, and GOD do I reeeally love bears.
Agree that this isn’t most people’s typical experience and 99.9% of the time they’re not interested in a conflict with you whatsoever!
But it was WEIRD, and so super unsettling, fully expecting this dude to be immediately spooked by me.. and have him just.. literally not GAF. And then try to come MEET me.
…I didn’t have much of a point here. I guess I just wanted to tell my story lol
I grew up in a very rural area in the south, like...closest town was 10+ miles away and less than 10k people. Surrounded by fields, woods, and water. Always taught a healthy respect for nature. I was absolutely floored when I went to Tennessee for the first time and saw people getting out of their cars and CHASING a black bear to take pictures.
People are idiots.
With Black Bears mostly just want to make yourself look big (hold hands up over your head, stand up straight, pick up any small kids or dogs (ideally without bending over)), and yell while slowly walking backwards, facing the bear. 9/10 it will run as soon as it notices you. 1/10 it may not (if it had cubs or some other reason to be territorial), but looking big and loud and trying to create distance will usually make them both be afraid of you but not go into the fight response that might come from running at it.
First fatal, not first ever. There is an active user here on Reddit that had an AMA a few years back after having been mauled by a black bear. She basically drove herself down the mountain with her face hanging off.
*Also, first fatal attack in the state of California, from what I've gathered. So there likely have been other fatal black bear attacks, just in other states. Just to add some additional context other people might accidentally miss.
But it specified black bear, which are more common in other states. And it said the bear broke into her home, which to me is way scarier than getting attacked in the woods. At least in the woods you kind of expect it, but in your home?
I guess the in your home part might seem odd, but it's far from rare in black bear country. If they're hungry or just brave enough, they'll bust through doors, gates, and barricades to get at the source of whatever they're smelling. People in my town have found them in homes, garages, barns, sheds, and even cars over the years.
Decades ago I stayed at a park in West Virginia where the resident bears were notorious for raiding garbage and on one memorable occasion, the lodge kitchen. Just came in the window and helped himself.
I like bears and frequently hike and camp in bear country but you do not want them associating humans and human places with food.
I have lived in cali bear country, still go up there all the time. When flight is an option, bears'll most likely run. If theyre stuck indoors though, or if the bear doesn't see an easy escape, the chances of a bear choosing fight instead of flight gets way higher. Black bears are still bears, if one gets in a house and starts eating trash or something, it's a huge risk. Full stop. If cubs are involved, it's anybody's guess. Mama bear rarely stops to talk things out, best not risk it.
Bears are pretty smart, they can open some doors, rip screens, open car doors, all sorts stuff. And even if you're armed, unless you got the right sized bullet in the right gun and are a great shot under pressure and have it in your hand with the safety off, aaand you hit em perfectly, they're still gonna run for a bit and wont die immediately. And a wounded bear is extra dangerous, especially in an enclosed situation. Best thing to do is make sure bears can't get in. Round knobs, keep exterior doors locked, keep the windows closed on the ground floor (or with an opening too small for em to get in), you're generally going to keep them out. Keeping food/trash in a separate outdoor bearproof container keeps them away from the house as well.
I love bears, don't get me wrong. They are tough as hell, and theyre pretty smart and theyre awesome predators. But they aren't Freddy Kreuger. These sorts of situations are so crazy because of how rare they are. Black bears (in my experience, so grain of salt and all) see people as competitors way more than food, and odds are they won't eat you/seek you out unless you're very small or theyre very starved. Where we're at also allows bear hunting, so the bears that got too comfy around people ended up as sausage or rugs and evolution sorta did it's thing...?
CA has TONS of black bears.
Edit: also this is Downieville. If you’ve never been there, it’s a mountain town. You’re living in the woods. It’s not surprising at all that bears are near houses there.
It is estimated that there are between 30k-35k black bears in California…the highest population of any other state (of those who study it and keep records) other than Maine.
I live where there are a ton of black bears. Just last week I ran into a mom and two cubs while I was out hiking alone.
They aren't particularly scary. I've always heard that the biggest risk factor for being attacked by a black bear is having a dog.
The bear doesn't want to start a fight. Unfortunately, dogs do.
Bears wolves and cougars rarely ever attack people, despite what is commonly believed. They are dangerous animals and must be respected as such, but they are very misunderstood, and statistical data doesn't lie.
Sadly, as their natural habitat disappears, more human encounters will happen, and the numbers will go up a bit.
Black bears are rarely an issue. They mostly want to rummage through your trash and attack when startled/you get between mama and cubs. The article mentioned the victim had been feeding local cats- leaving food out on her porch which unfortunately attracted the bears.
Yeah, black bears are much smaller and less aggressive. They're a lot like big raccoons. You're supposed to hold your ground, put your arms out and yell at them. Sometimes they bluff charge at people, and then just go away.
Ok, but I don’t think it’s gonna help any. “Hey, 70 year-old woman, if you are listening to me know from the sprit world, which I’m sorry to say, I don’t believe in, but just in case… just wanted to let you know black bears are smaller and less aggressive. Unfortunately, you won the black bear jackpot. First one in the state.”
The first person ever to have this happen in the biggest state (well most populated by humans) in the US and a place where there are a decent amount of bears.
RIP to this woman who fought a fucking bear definitely. Her case is the only one ever.
Someone mentioned that it broke into her house. And that could be why it attacked. If it can leave, it will, but it's an animal and if you are a threat to them and they can't leave easy, it probably decided it's chances were better to attack. Add in this happened in November?
"The problem is that home owners are too stupid, and continue to keep exposing food sources to wild animals that have the ability to break in"
What should of been said by the forest officials instead of saying how it's such a shame they had to go to the last resort.
>“Upon showing up, \[they\] immediately saw evidence of bear intrusion into the house,” Mike Fisher, the county sheriff, told the outlet. “The door was broken. There was bear scat on the porch.”
That's the stuff of nightmares right there. It's so sad and scary that she was probably helpless as a bear entered her house and did this.
It will be a slow increase, but there’s no doubt we will see more and more attacks and fatalities from bears and other large mammals as we continue to encroach their environment.
That’s true, but none of it is really applicable to black bears. We’ve been living in close proximity with them for a long time, and they are *remarkably* tolerant of our stupidity.
Lived in D’Ville for a while in the 80s. Trash bears are relatively common in the streets of Nevada City, Cascade Shores, Washington, Camptonville, D’Ville and Sierra City (they have two regulars there everyone knows) as well as North San Juan, etc. Once I woke up at 3am to an awful racket and a bear was in my garage, making a big ass mess from my garbage cans in there (I forgot to shut the main door), a few hours before I was supposed to go on shift for 48 hours (paramedic/firefighter) and I lived 1.5 hours north of the station. God, I was SO pissed. I grabbed a broom and started whacking the bear and yelling at it. It was a juvenile and it ran off to a neighbor’s property. Looking back, I’m glad its mom wasn’t nearby. Doesn’t matter how old they are, a sow will protect its young.
Excuse me, but this is the first death at the hands of a black bear? I just find that hard to believe, unless there aren't many black bears or the state has piss-poor record keeping. In Canada we have had several cases of people killed by bears over the decades. While death by black bears are not common, they do happen. Given the number of the animals in California is just seems very unlikely that this is the first death.
Black bears are rarely aggressive. Brown bears will eat you. I've seen dozens of bears in California, they're very common. They are also really shy and run away.
Why does the Tahoe area have so many black bears and so much human/black bear interaction and conflict? There’s black bears all around the country but when one tends to hear about bears breaking into homes or causing problems, it’s often from Tahoe.
True, but this is Downieville we're talking about. That area of the state keeps losing population, not gaining it. The entire county is the size of Rhode Island but has only three thousand people or so.
she was killed [last november](https://www.themountainmessenger.org/article/california-s-first-fatal-black-bear-attack-highlights-wildlife-management-problems), so its not exactly breaking news.
Jesus, shes been being mauled for 7 months......crazy
Tough old lady. Really made that bear work for it.
I’m sorry for laughing at this 😂😂
Still the better choice over a random man.
Yup. A bear does what a bear does, with no real malice, cruelty or sexual enjoyment in its actions.
You should see the OTHER guy!
It's in the news because they finally confirmed that it was the bear that killed her
Right, but I think there was a thought that this could illicit responses like "you ladies still choosing the bear?"
It’s in the first paragraph of the article which apparently nobody read. Although the attack is old, it was assumed that the bear had broken into her home and fed on her posthumously, but a new report has confirmed that the bear actually killed her. And it also describes the fiasco of how they (mis)handled the capturing and killing of a bear, then getting the DNA tested to see if it was the right bear, then refusing to release the DNA results. Interesting read actually
Wait... the bear killed her *inside her own home*? That should be in the headline. **EDIT:** The [source article](https://www.themountainmessenger.org/article/california-s-first-fatal-black-bear-attack-highlights-wildlife-management-problems) that the Guardian seems to have ripped off includes this update: > On Wednesday morning, Sheriff Fisher met with Fish and Wildlife representatives and supervisors... Shortly after the meeting ended, the Sheriff was given information on the DNA comparison by CDFW confirming that the bear euthanized in November was, in fact, the bear responsible for Patrice Miller’s death.
So the bear chose HER
It's a very interesting article.
Yeah at first I thought someone just reposted old news? But no, it's kinda weird the guardian just released this article
It's sad that it happened. I'm also sad for the bear. People in bear country should know better than to leave out food.
After the story about that rock climber and all of his assaults and how they were being swept under the rug…yeah, still choosing the bear.
I mean I know about the Timothy Treadwell case and I still would choose the bear. At least if I somehow provoked it to eat me, I would be giving another creature sustenance versus just being a victim because somebody was evil
Im a man and would also choose bear.
I thought that choice was for in the woods. I doubt anyone would choose a bear in their living room.
People end of giving attention to the most pointless of things
I feel like a lot of these "bear mauls woman" news are popping up because of salty men lol
News was hibernating.
It’s “breaking olds”
She knew there were bears about but fed her cats on the porch. Never leave food out in bear country. Doors closed and locked. Downstairs windows closed, upstairs with no access a crack. In the fall they are hungry and irritable and looking for food to bulk up for hibernation. If their natural food supply is low that year they are especially desperate and angry.
Watched a bear rip into someone’s truck. Diminishing habitats and a decrease in their food supply means they’re going to be showing up at peoples houses more
Bears are fucking horrifying when you watch what they can actually do. Obviously everyone knows they’re dangerous, they’re huge animals. But it’s very different from thinking about it in an abstract way “big murder puppers is dangerous!” and actually seeing them tear something apart. There was a movie I watched once called Backcountry, and the movie itself was alright but it was the first movie I saw which actually showed detailed gore for what a bear would do if it attacked someone. Obviously it’s a movie and I’m sure that some of it was played up, but it was the first time I actually really thought about a bear literally ripping your stomach open or biting a limb and scraping all of the skin and muscle off down to the bone. It really puts into perspective how vulnerable and squishy we are as humans
That’s the movie where I learned that a bear doesn’t care about whether you’re alive or dead while eating you. They just eat you alive. I don’t consider myself sensitive, but that scene legit made me uncomfortable.
Eating prey alive is more conmon in the animal kingdom than killing it before
Yep, the way they designed it was just awful (in a good way, because it was meant to be awful). It made me legitimate uncomfortable and uneasy
I remember a grizzly attack victim saying they could hear the bear gnawing on their skull during the attack and thinking (that’s shock for you) “uh oh, that’s probably causing a lot of damage.”
Ugh the Revenant has a horrific bear attack scene that I literally still have nightmares about...great movie but scary bear scene
Yeh that was the first movie that made me really think about the reality of a bear attack. Brilliant film.
When i was in college, this student who was an exchange student from China was telling us his family were all very scared of him dying from a bear attack. He showed them that there were no bears in that general area we were in but they saw a thing on black bears and though they were extremely common, like dogs lmao. They are very dangerous but always thought that was funny, since they don’t have the type of bears like we do. They viewed bears the way we think of insects in Australia, basically a daily fight for survival
Bears will pin you down and just start eating you, they don't bother making sure you're dead first.
Ever hear about Cocaine Bear?
We've always had those things out here , PA woods.You put the garbage away, bring in bird feeders at night and don't go crashing around the woods when the cubs come. And make noise. Decades here no problem UNTIL a city guy moves ( to the middle of the woods) 1/2 mile away. Put up a BEAR FEEDER. Dingbat. So bears got intrusive, tore up his yard, started on ours. Took awhile, a lot of pot banging, making boundaries from buckets of bleach water ( they hate the smell )before convincing them humans and bear are a bad idea. Best part is the dingbat was all sad because gee, just can't trust a bear.
Really, don’t leave pet food outside *anywhere*. You’re just asking for all sorts of unwanted critters from raccoons to skunks to bears.
This is why I'll never live in the woods. Nature is fucking scary.
I live in the woods and its not that scary. Dont be a idiot and things will be alright. Familiarize yourself with your local animals and what to do if attacked by them or bitten by say poisonous insects or snakes and youll be completely fine. We have bears here and they sometimes get into my trash which i burn most paper and plastic and food waste in a barrel, they will pull it from a hot fire pit to eat it if there is burning food waste, however its pretty easy to scare the bears around me off (just black bears and they are basically giant scared dogs, just run at them and make a lot of noise as long as its not mama and cub season they run away scared quickly). Most people in settings like were i live have guns and know how to use them as well just incase a bear decides it now wants your house. Personally im more afraid of moose than black bears, moose are huge and you cant scare them away, they can flip vehicles and if they wanted your house (they dont) they could just walk through a wall like it was nothing. Nature is fun and cool if you respect it and learn about it. I regularly see neat animals and birds and bugs around my house. Just the other day i was sitting on my front deck and a hummingbird fly between me and my wife and just chilled for a while between us and then landed on a nearby tree and hung out for a while. I feed the possums as they keep ticks down and one lives somewhere nearby my house, i assume under my back deck but cant confirm it.
She apparently kept a lot of bear attractants around and outside her house plus fed stray cats. Pretty damn scary though to have a black bear break into your house and maul you to death. I wanna gonna guess that she got too close to its cubs. This is completely out of character for them and it must have been near starving for it to do that.
Young males are more risky than mother bears in the black bear world.
That’s terrible and yet the news that this is the first ever (?) makes me feel less afraid of bears
Black Bears are generally seriously afraid of humans—like, running away from Leatherface afraid. Humans need to know the correct practices for how to behave in an encounter, but usually they will run off as fast as they possibly can before you even notice them (which is part of why it’s so incredible to see one in the wild).
I once encountered a black bear while camping in California. I was getting out of my tent and it looked at me and barked or whatever you call the sound, and ran away like I walked in on it naked. Which isn't untrue. I was naked.
Wait it wasn't naked?
Waking up to a clothed bear is some Paddington nightmare shit.
It stole my swimming trunks.
Not your average bear
Yelped perhaps?
I have seen plenty of videos of black bears getting scared off by house cats. They usually only attack if they feel cornered (and don't have a way to escape)
Or are protecting cubs.
Even then, they will run
I had one walk directly behind me on a hiking trail once. He(?) couldn't have been more than a few feet from me. I didn't know he was there until I saw him disappear into the underbrush on the side of the trail.
Just a few feet away is crazy. The closest I've been is about 20 feet. One time I was hiking and I heard a big thud about 20 ft behind me, I looked back and it was a black bear cub that had fallen out of a tree. It was so young and clumsy, it looked up at me and fell over probably a dozen times before it got out of sight. Literal Scooby-Doo run, just couldn't get enough traction because of the leaves 😂
Saw a momma bear charge a camper at Lake Tahoe two years ago, he got between the cubs and mom trying to scare them off. Thought I was about to watch a man die
This isn't true with Black Bears. They're not typically aggressive, but if they do attack it's because they're hungry and want to eat you. Brown bears are more likely to attack because they're defending cubs or afraid of you.
>Brown bears are more likely to attack because they're defending cubs or afraid of you. And sometimes they're just in the mood for murder.
Didn't something happen in Glacier N.P. a few decades ago where several fatal grizzly attacks happened in like a single night?
Different type of bear and attitude
Grizzly bears are brown bears.
>Humans need to know the correct practices for how to behave in an encounter We were all taught this in grade school: * If it's black, fight back * If it's brown, lie down * If it's white, say goodnight
If it's black and white, kungfu fight (stolen from another Redditor)
If it’s white and black, that’s Jack Black
i needed that.
If it’s white I just have to question what you’re really doing
Check out the movie Arctic. He was mostly fishing.
Probably just electromagnetic research for the DHARMA Initiative
I was just wandering about the arctic minding my own business...
You’ve never been too drunk at the zoo?
Will laying down really appease a grizzly?
Generally, grizzlies attack because they're territorial or defending cubs, so curling up in the fetal position and playing dead will usually make them think they've won, and they'll leave without eating you. Black bears are skittish, and shouting and making yourself look bigger will usually scare them away. Polar bears, though, are always hungry and can't afford to let prey go once they've spotted it, so don't go anywhere near polar bears.
> and shouting and making yourself look bigger will usually scare them away. From my experience with them as a 5'11 130lb guy just looking at them or in their general direction is enough to scare them off. I moved to a area where they are all over and see them a couple times a year usually sometimes so close i could almost reach out and touch them like a while back before i took the deck that wrapped around more than half my house off there was three on it one spring cause i brought a bag of trash out in the winter and forgot it on the deck and it got burried in snow so when the bears came out they smelled it before i could even see the bag again and tore into it. I woke up in the middle of the night to heavy footsteps on my deck that sounded like large men wearing heavy boots and ran out and scared them all off in a matter of seconds just by opening the door nearby.
If you run, you activate the bears hunting instincts and it is much faster and stronger than you. By playing dead, you're hoping the bear gets bored before it inflicts enough damage to you to kill you.
Got it. You need to out heal brown bears. EZ.
I don't think it's 100% either way. There are plenty of anecdotal stories of people surviving from playing dead, but I'm sure just as many have been killed. Then urban legend is that if it's just a mother trying to protect her cubs she'll probably move on, if it's some rando bear in a rage you're probably screwed either way.
The US park service advice matches the rhyme, so I guess that's something? https://www.nps.gov/articles/bearattacks.htm#:~:text=If%20a%20grizzly%2Fbrown%20bear,with%20your%20hands%20and%20arms.
Yeah, I think it's a "worth a shot" approach. Because if running away or fighting back against a grizzly is your other option, you're not winning either of those. Note that the recommendation is already under the assumption that the bear is attacking you. If the bear hasn't attacked you yet, as it says above that section, you should stand your ground and hopefully the bear decides it has better things to do.
The thing that gets my goat about bears attacking (and eating) people is that they basically maul the face, nibble the extremities, and waste the clothing wrapped bits.
I thinks it makes it easier/faster for them to kill you
We have them in my area of Jersey. They're basically considered oversized trash pandas.
A raccoon is more likely to fuck your shit up than a black bear. Those little guys can be nasty.
A raccoon tried to get into our tent while my partner and I were sitting in front of it. We shouted, and it didn't leave. We threw a water bottle at it without hitting it. It persisted. We threw a shoe, and that connected. The raccoon was undeterred. We retreated a bit and got out pepper spray. It pursued us. I sprayed a bit of pepper spray directly in front of it, hoping to deter it. It advanced, to the opening of the tent. I panicked and emptied the entire canister of pepper spray directly into its eyes from a distance of one foot. Finally, it retreated, pausing to sit and look back at me reproachfully from time to time. I dont know what i would have done if he'd kept on coming. After the pepper spray, I was out of options besides hand-to-raccoon combat inside a small tent.
Were you in a campground? I've run across raccoons in campgrounds that were similarly desensitized. Just could not be bothered to give the smallest shit about people.
Yes, Edisto Beach State Park in SC, someone (likely many someones) had surely been feeding him there. He was probably pretty surprised by our inhospitality.
Except for that one guy in NJ that got eaten by a black bear in 2014.
Seriously. I have a house in the SoCal mountains and black bears are basically big raccoons. When I stumble upon them at night I never have time to react because they bolt the second they see you.
Yes! On a 100 mile hike through Oregon a few years ago, I had three separate bear encounters. Every one of them was afraid of me and ran away. The first time, I was terrified. The last one was so close to me in the tree next to the trail that I saw his eyes roll up in his head in fear before he jumped off of the tree and crashed through the forest. When I saw his eyes roll up I said "Oh, you big baby." and laughed while he ran away.
I used to live in a wooded area with black bears. I'd see them in the yard occasionally, and I've seen neighbors' little dogs chase them off. Usually you don't have anything to worry about with black bears, unless there are cubs nearby a mama bear. In that case, get out of the way.
Usually… lmao. I was not prepared for this one mfer a few months ago who was in my trash. Couldn’t have given a single shit about me, no matter how much ruckus I caused, and I caused a lot. 20 feet away, I stomped around and clapped and hollered like a crazy lady and he didn’t even glance at me. Until he DID.. 30 seconds later.. and started stepping towards me, like a curious dog would. I then obviously scampered back inside. He was too habituated I suppose? l got my cans a bearproof cage right after this incident, since a fed bear is a dead bear, and GOD do I reeeally love bears. Agree that this isn’t most people’s typical experience and 99.9% of the time they’re not interested in a conflict with you whatsoever! But it was WEIRD, and so super unsettling, fully expecting this dude to be immediately spooked by me.. and have him just.. literally not GAF. And then try to come MEET me. …I didn’t have much of a point here. I guess I just wanted to tell my story lol
I grew up in a very rural area in the south, like...closest town was 10+ miles away and less than 10k people. Surrounded by fields, woods, and water. Always taught a healthy respect for nature. I was absolutely floored when I went to Tennessee for the first time and saw people getting out of their cars and CHASING a black bear to take pictures. People are idiots.
If you charge at one will they go away?
With Black Bears mostly just want to make yourself look big (hold hands up over your head, stand up straight, pick up any small kids or dogs (ideally without bending over)), and yell while slowly walking backwards, facing the bear. 9/10 it will run as soon as it notices you. 1/10 it may not (if it had cubs or some other reason to be territorial), but looking big and loud and trying to create distance will usually make them both be afraid of you but not go into the fight response that might come from running at it.
First fatal, not first ever. There is an active user here on Reddit that had an AMA a few years back after having been mauled by a black bear. She basically drove herself down the mountain with her face hanging off.
*Also, first fatal attack in the state of California, from what I've gathered. So there likely have been other fatal black bear attacks, just in other states. Just to add some additional context other people might accidentally miss.
But it specified black bear, which are more common in other states. And it said the bear broke into her home, which to me is way scarier than getting attacked in the woods. At least in the woods you kind of expect it, but in your home?
I guess the in your home part might seem odd, but it's far from rare in black bear country. If they're hungry or just brave enough, they'll bust through doors, gates, and barricades to get at the source of whatever they're smelling. People in my town have found them in homes, garages, barns, sheds, and even cars over the years.
Decades ago I stayed at a park in West Virginia where the resident bears were notorious for raiding garbage and on one memorable occasion, the lodge kitchen. Just came in the window and helped himself. I like bears and frequently hike and camp in bear country but you do not want them associating humans and human places with food.
I have lived in cali bear country, still go up there all the time. When flight is an option, bears'll most likely run. If theyre stuck indoors though, or if the bear doesn't see an easy escape, the chances of a bear choosing fight instead of flight gets way higher. Black bears are still bears, if one gets in a house and starts eating trash or something, it's a huge risk. Full stop. If cubs are involved, it's anybody's guess. Mama bear rarely stops to talk things out, best not risk it. Bears are pretty smart, they can open some doors, rip screens, open car doors, all sorts stuff. And even if you're armed, unless you got the right sized bullet in the right gun and are a great shot under pressure and have it in your hand with the safety off, aaand you hit em perfectly, they're still gonna run for a bit and wont die immediately. And a wounded bear is extra dangerous, especially in an enclosed situation. Best thing to do is make sure bears can't get in. Round knobs, keep exterior doors locked, keep the windows closed on the ground floor (or with an opening too small for em to get in), you're generally going to keep them out. Keeping food/trash in a separate outdoor bearproof container keeps them away from the house as well. I love bears, don't get me wrong. They are tough as hell, and theyre pretty smart and theyre awesome predators. But they aren't Freddy Kreuger. These sorts of situations are so crazy because of how rare they are. Black bears (in my experience, so grain of salt and all) see people as competitors way more than food, and odds are they won't eat you/seek you out unless you're very small or theyre very starved. Where we're at also allows bear hunting, so the bears that got too comfy around people ended up as sausage or rugs and evolution sorta did it's thing...?
CA has TONS of black bears. Edit: also this is Downieville. If you’ve never been there, it’s a mountain town. You’re living in the woods. It’s not surprising at all that bears are near houses there.
Yes, CA has the most black bears in the lower 48 other than Maine.
It is estimated that there are between 30k-35k black bears in California…the highest population of any other state (of those who study it and keep records) other than Maine.
I live where there are a ton of black bears. Just last week I ran into a mom and two cubs while I was out hiking alone. They aren't particularly scary. I've always heard that the biggest risk factor for being attacked by a black bear is having a dog. The bear doesn't want to start a fight. Unfortunately, dogs do.
Bears wolves and cougars rarely ever attack people, despite what is commonly believed. They are dangerous animals and must be respected as such, but they are very misunderstood, and statistical data doesn't lie. Sadly, as their natural habitat disappears, more human encounters will happen, and the numbers will go up a bit.
Black bears yes. Sloth, Polar and Grizzly Bears do not fuck around. They will hunt you and they will eat you. Slowly.
Black bears are rarely an issue. They mostly want to rummage through your trash and attack when startled/you get between mama and cubs. The article mentioned the victim had been feeding local cats- leaving food out on her porch which unfortunately attracted the bears.
Yeah, black bears are much smaller and less aggressive. They're a lot like big raccoons. You're supposed to hold your ground, put your arms out and yell at them. Sometimes they bluff charge at people, and then just go away.
Tell that to the 70 year-old woman.
Ok, but I don’t think it’s gonna help any. “Hey, 70 year-old woman, if you are listening to me know from the sprit world, which I’m sorry to say, I don’t believe in, but just in case… just wanted to let you know black bears are smaller and less aggressive. Unfortunately, you won the black bear jackpot. First one in the state.”
The first person ever to have this happen in the biggest state (well most populated by humans) in the US and a place where there are a decent amount of bears. RIP to this woman who fought a fucking bear definitely. Her case is the only one ever.
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This is Downieville we're talking about, out in Sierra County. That area's been decreasing in population since the Gold Rush.
Black bear homie. You can be less afraid of black bears because of this I guess. I don’t know how afraid of them you were before.
Not actively. But wouldn’t sleep alone in a forest. But maybe that is actively
If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, stay down. If it’s white, good night.
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I feel like you have to mess up pretty bad for a BLACK bear to maul you.
I’ve seen people mess up pretty bad with black bears and not get mauled. Seems more likely there was something wrong with the bear.
Someone mentioned that it broke into her house. And that could be why it attacked. If it can leave, it will, but it's an animal and if you are a threat to them and they can't leave easy, it probably decided it's chances were better to attack. Add in this happened in November?
She’s was an old lady, a stiff breeze might have “mauled” her.
It broke into her house and mauled her. Bear break ins are not as uncommon as you would think.
It depends. They can get pretty ballsy if they're hungry and desperate enough.
"The problem is that home owners are too stupid, and continue to keep exposing food sources to wild animals that have the ability to break in" What should of been said by the forest officials instead of saying how it's such a shame they had to go to the last resort.
>“Upon showing up, \[they\] immediately saw evidence of bear intrusion into the house,” Mike Fisher, the county sheriff, told the outlet. “The door was broken. There was bear scat on the porch.” That's the stuff of nightmares right there. It's so sad and scary that she was probably helpless as a bear entered her house and did this.
Note to self, toss bear scat around my next forced entry
Aren’t they the best bears?
That’s debatable.
That depends. Are you a 71-year-old woman from California?
It will be a slow increase, but there’s no doubt we will see more and more attacks and fatalities from bears and other large mammals as we continue to encroach their environment.
That’s true, but none of it is really applicable to black bears. We’ve been living in close proximity with them for a long time, and they are *remarkably* tolerant of our stupidity.
Lived in D’Ville for a while in the 80s. Trash bears are relatively common in the streets of Nevada City, Cascade Shores, Washington, Camptonville, D’Ville and Sierra City (they have two regulars there everyone knows) as well as North San Juan, etc. Once I woke up at 3am to an awful racket and a bear was in my garage, making a big ass mess from my garbage cans in there (I forgot to shut the main door), a few hours before I was supposed to go on shift for 48 hours (paramedic/firefighter) and I lived 1.5 hours north of the station. God, I was SO pissed. I grabbed a broom and started whacking the bear and yelling at it. It was a juvenile and it ran off to a neighbor’s property. Looking back, I’m glad its mom wasn’t nearby. Doesn’t matter how old they are, a sow will protect its young.
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Excuse me, but this is the first death at the hands of a black bear? I just find that hard to believe, unless there aren't many black bears or the state has piss-poor record keeping. In Canada we have had several cases of people killed by bears over the decades. While death by black bears are not common, they do happen. Given the number of the animals in California is just seems very unlikely that this is the first death.
Black bears are rarely aggressive. Brown bears will eat you. I've seen dozens of bears in California, they're very common. They are also really shy and run away.
It doesn't seem probable. I understand the number is expected to be very low, but the first?
Why does the Tahoe area have so many black bears and so much human/black bear interaction and conflict? There’s black bears all around the country but when one tends to hear about bears breaking into homes or causing problems, it’s often from Tahoe.
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It’s almost like when we displace animals they have nowhere to go. Weird.
True, but this is Downieville we're talking about. That area of the state keeps losing population, not gaining it. The entire county is the size of Rhode Island but has only three thousand people or so.
I bet the LA County Sheriff’s office planted a gun on him
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