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Bear data confirms what's long been known

Mother bears aren't the issue - male black bears responsible for stalking and predatory behaviour, study says
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If you go out in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. A teddy bear picnic it is not, as local bear populations rise from a winter of hibernation to a poor berry yield. Though fewer berries doesn't mean a higher chance of attack, it does indicate bears will be roaming closer to roads and garbage sources in search of food.

New data released in a report of the Journal of Wildlife Management this month confirms previous information that 88 per cent of fatal bear attacks in Canada and the U.S. are the result of predatory behaviour of a male black bear.

"Of fatal attacks, 91 per cent (49 of 54) occurred on parties of one or two persons. In 38 per cent (15 of 40) of incidents, peoples' food or garbage probably influenced the bear being in the attack location," reads an excerpt from the study. "We judged that the bear involved acted as a predator in 88 per cent (49 of 56) of fatal incidents. Adult (n = 23) or subadult (n = 10) male bears were involved in 92 per cent (33 of 36) of fatal predatory incidents, reflecting biological and behavioral differences between male and female bears. That most fatal black bear attacks were predatory and were carried out by one bear shows that females with young are not the most dangerous black bears."

While it might seem that one of the most prominent rules of thumb in bear theory - that a mother with cubs presents the most dangerous to humans - has been debunked, conservation officers and bear experts maintain that the rule still applies.

"It's never respectful to approach a mother bear or come between her and her cubs in any way," said Sylvia Dolson, executive director of the Get Bear Smart Society in Whistler. "This information has been known for a long, long time...they've updated their stats and it's good to know that they are still finding the same evidence. We've been educating on that basis for years, so all of our education is in line with what came out of that report."

The study, led by Stephen Herrero - a noted bear expert and professor of environmental science and biology at the University of Calgary - reinforced well-established links between expanding human populations and bear attacks. The report was based on information collected between 1900 and 2009 and showed no correlation between heavy bear populations and attacks. There were 3.5 times as many fatal attacks in Canada and Alaska but only 1.75 times as many black bears and much less human contact for black bears in these regions. There was, however, a positive linear relationship between the number of fatal black bear attacks per decade and human population size in the United States and Canada per decade.

"Anyone who seriously works with bears knows that mother black bears are probably the least aggressive of all the bears - I hesitate to tell people that because I don't want people walking up to them," said bear researcher Michael Allen, who said bear populations in the Sea to Sky corridor are not typically aggressive. "Given the history of bears in Whistler I haven't seen any stalking behaviour from males, they're not predators here. They show no interest in deer that I've seen. Deer will feed four or five meters from them and if anything the young bears run from the deer."

Allen has been studying and working with black bears in the region for 27 years and is familiar with all types of behaviour. He occasionally receives calls and emails from hikers who have encountered a young male who won't budge from a trail, but said this behaviour has more to do with growing up than being a threat to humans.

"Young bears are like human teenagers, they push the boundaries to see what they can get away with," he said. "That's how they learn to sort out space and status."

In the case of an encounter of this kind, Allen recommends making noise and talking to the bear firmly to let it know you're not intimidated. If charged, he said not to run, as a bear's instincts will be to chase.

There have been no fatal encounters with black bears in the Sea to Sky region, although garbage keeps local populations close by. Being vigilant about proper, bear safe waste disposal is the key method of ensuring no fatalities occur for both humans and bears.

"The bears that do access human food and garbage tend to get into higher levels of contact because they put themselves in positions where they are in higher proximity to people and occasionally enter buildings, which is quite dangerous," said local Conservation Officer Chris Doyle. "People can be injured by bears in buildings so I wouldn't say a bear that has eaten garbage is more likely to be a predator, however, a bear that has been accessing human food becomes more dangerous in that it puts itself in positions where it may have some kind of encounter with a person and then it could result in human injury as well.

Bears have a natural aversion to dogs, so in the case of an encounter Allen advises controlling Fido before he can antagonize the bear. Few dogs can outrun a healthy bear, and can be killed by one swipe of a paw.

For more information on bears and safety, go to www.bearsmart.com.