[Henry10]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Most bears if ever do come near a human are mainly curious.

Not exactly, not so simple. Weaker bears come to the fringes, i.e. human habitat. They always come for food, and since prime foraging areas (i.e. areas away from humans) are occupied by strongest bears.

As I said in earlier posts, rangers (and mother bears in conjunction) train cubs to stay away from humans, as bad news, and as a poor benefit / cost habitat. But some young bears, or older, or mothers+cubs wander off into human "territory" to escape the wrath of stronger bears.

Black bears are not known to actively hunt humans, but with a very few and rare instances, which are exceptions. They will attack a human however if they feel threatened.

Bears know humans well, much better than humans would know that bear. If anything, it's the bears who are the smart ones, and try to stay away from humans as much as possible, and not consider humans Barbie dolls.

But in spring, they are very hungry and very cranky, just like you are before eating at a restaurant. So the strongest bears are most aggressive towards other bears, so weaker bears go into the fringes.

Best response to a bear encounter is to try to scare them away, without threatening them, but rather "protecting your territory" and standing ground. So yes, making yourself bigger and snarly is a good response. Moving away slowly and alert is also natural behavior, which they understand. It will reduce their stress too, and lower their testosterone.

Running away is a prey behavior, which may trigger a chase. So don't. If you walking into the woods or hiking, carry bear-spray, about $ 30, which is effective at about 15-20 feet in case a bear charges you.

Bear encounters are very stressful for human and bear, so yes, a quick separation is the best conflict resolution. Know your "territory"

If you are deep in the woods, it is bear's territory, so move away from the bear slowly, alert, confidently.

If it is in your yard, or neighborhood's woods, it is you territory, and it is bear's turn to run away. That's where you have to beat pots and pans and yell him off.

[Raider111]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Avon, CT

Wow so close and so cute!

https://twitter.com/mattaustinTV/sta...99830879539204

Agreed. Nice looking bear, he must get all the ladies. What a great and rare opportunity for this Avon woman.

[AntonioR]

Those photos are funny to look at, but I'm sure that woman's heart must had been beating really fast.

Poor thing wanted a brownie or two and he didn't care he wasn't invited. lol

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

Those photos are funny to look at, but I'm sure that woman's heart must had been beating really fast.

Poor thing wanted a brownie or two and he didn't care he wasn't invited. lol

Bears are omnivores, and very smart. If faced with the choice of either challenging a mature 500-600 male or a 120lbs woman -- which would the bear try?

Besides, these weaker bears just don't stumble into human territory -- they prod, they test, they "push the envelope." If no push-back or penalty, guess what -- bear gets bolder and bolder. That's why rangers do not want anyone to attract or approach these.

When faced with a non-threatening "ooooh, how cute" human, bears lose that fear of humans -- "screw mom, she didn't know what she was talking about. See? Humans are not bad", thus become more intrusive, bolder and and eventually have to be put down if they become a strong nuissance.

Nature requires that bears compete with other bears for food. Stronger bears survive, and get to re-produce. This produces stronger bears, and so on.

Humans interrupt this natural cycle to bear detriment.

[Henry10]

One more thing -- bear mortality rate (before full adulthood) is 50-75%. So majority of cubs and young bears dies. Almost 100% of causes of bear deaths is within-species. Bears that die of hunger, die because they can't compete for food with stronger bears.

Yet, the survival instinct of bears is very sharpened by million of years of evolution and millions of preceding generations. Still majority do not make it into adulthood. So that cookie is a such a huge draw for them, and yet, bears are so well-drilled by their mothers to stay-away that only relatively few encroach into human territory, and would rather die than get close to humans.

Momma-bears do a much better job teaching their offspring to stay away than human mothers do.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

Those photos are funny to look at, but I'm sure that woman's heart must had been beating really fast.

Poor thing wanted a brownie or two and he didn't care he wasn't invited. lol

I would of opened the door and fed him or her. Then I'd expect a pop in every time I bake.

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by Cambium

I would of opened the door and fed him or her. Then I'd expect a pop in every time I bake.

Cambium: I know you are joking and light-hearted about this, and I also may sound like a downer. But I don't want future readers to take these jokes literally and put them into practice. Believe me, some still do. You can't believe how stupid some people are around and about bears.

Part of it, I think it is our humanizing and trivializing of bears. It's astounding that more incidents do not happen, and I attribute that to bears' intelligence.

[Cambium]

Yes joking. Although I would be the one to get along with one. It's all about education and educating people what not to do and what to do.


If someone doesn't know that dogs sense fear, then you wont understand how Bears have that same sensory elevated beyond belief. They see fear as a threat or as a meal.

[El Scorcho]

I dislike bears. There are far too many.

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by El Scorcho

I dislike bears. There are far too many.

There are CLEARLY too many. Nature is brutal. It handles the overpopulation by eventually having the bears killing each other and starving to death(and I think we can understand the danger to human life that presents). By not hunting them we also make it so they have no fear of us. A recipe for disaster.

I've yet to hear someone explain to me why it's ok to hunt deer, but not bears. I guess it's ok to shoot a sweet animal like a deer, but not something that can rip you and other animals to pieces. Never really understood that moral logic. And yes people eat bear meat so that excuse isn't going to work and it's not like the animal cares what the motivation for hunting is anyway. And bears are not endangered. In fact they are so overpopulated they have been entering areas that have been developed by human civilization for hundreds of years. They are becoming dumpster/bird feeder bears. CT is a tiny state with no true wilderness areas. Basically we are surrounded by states in the northeast that allow bear hunting. Even with that hunting, bear population continues to grow. They are not even slightly endangered.