Predatory attacks on humans by black bears are extremely rare, but experts are offering insight as to how some of them may start after a woman was killed in Canada by a black bear while searching for her dogs.
A"disproportionate number" of attacks by bears on human are related to dogs, Lynn Rogers, research scientist for the Wildlife Research Institute and founder of the North American Bear Center, told ABC News.
In Minnesota, three of the seven unprovoked bear attacks recorded since 1987 in which the victim required hospitalization involved a dog, Dave Garshelis, a bear research scientist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, told ABC News. None of those attacks were fatal, Garshelis said. He suggested arming yourself with some type of weapon, such as a gun or big stick,"especially if the dog is running back to you for protection." In one of bear attacks that occurred in Minnesota, a person in the group bashed it over the head with a canoe paddle, he said.Yelling or banging pots and pans may do the trick as well, Garshelis said, while Rogers advised using pepper spray to encourage bears to retreat.
However, black bears are typically not aggressive and fear the"repercussions of attacking someone," Garshelis said.Black bears may have developed their apprehensive nature during the ice age, when they faced rivals such as saber-toothed cats, dire wolves in packs, huge American lions and the giant short-faced bear, the primitive species that weighed more than a ton, had powerful jaws and could run fast with it's long legs, Rogers said.
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