Re: Bear Attack
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 7:52 am
This is just a shame. RIP Laney.
Sounds like just unfortunately being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I don't know anything about this specific situation as I wasn't there, so won't speculate.
To help prevent these encounters from happening we should all learn more about living with bears and hiking in bear country.
Bears are more active upstate NY also (probably everywhere) as the weather warms.
In general, bear behavior is driven by a couple main things...finding and protecting food sources and protecting their young.
Whenever cubs are involved, mother bear's (black or grizzly) go into an extreme protective mode (not dissimilar from other animals) but can be more dangerous
just due to their size and tools bears are naturally armed with along with that inherently mammalian fierce motherly instinct.
We need to be aware of this when we are all hiking or out in the backcountry.
We all like to hike with our dogs, though sometimes we need to think about this more in bear country. Bears often view dogs as competitors (and with respect to cubs, potential predators) so throw that in the mix, the bear then turns up its sense of protection. Bears in some cases can be attracted to an area where dogs are for a variety of reasons which then can bring bears into closer contact with humans and dogs can provoke more defensive behavior from bears (another reason why dogs aren't permitted in many backcountry places where bears or mountain lion are active).
Add in the fact that it is Spring time, and bears are emerging from hibernation, hungry and not to sound funny but just like most animals or humans for that matter,
when bears are hungry they can get hormonally 'cranky' and more prone to act out (the opposite is true on those large salmon rivers in late summer where when usually
aggressively competitive grizzlies can be seen quite close to each other without major incident since food is plentiful and bears are sated. Bear-bear conflicts in jockeying for top spot on the river/waterfall is another thing).
Sadly, with more people in the wilderness and more land being developed, bear-human encounters will only increase, the result often a lose-lose situation for both person and bear.
Most of the time, most bears are probably equally scared of humans and usually want nothing to do with people.
Sounds like just unfortunately being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I don't know anything about this specific situation as I wasn't there, so won't speculate.
To help prevent these encounters from happening we should all learn more about living with bears and hiking in bear country.
Bears are more active upstate NY also (probably everywhere) as the weather warms.
In general, bear behavior is driven by a couple main things...finding and protecting food sources and protecting their young.
Whenever cubs are involved, mother bear's (black or grizzly) go into an extreme protective mode (not dissimilar from other animals) but can be more dangerous
just due to their size and tools bears are naturally armed with along with that inherently mammalian fierce motherly instinct.
We need to be aware of this when we are all hiking or out in the backcountry.
We all like to hike with our dogs, though sometimes we need to think about this more in bear country. Bears often view dogs as competitors (and with respect to cubs, potential predators) so throw that in the mix, the bear then turns up its sense of protection. Bears in some cases can be attracted to an area where dogs are for a variety of reasons which then can bring bears into closer contact with humans and dogs can provoke more defensive behavior from bears (another reason why dogs aren't permitted in many backcountry places where bears or mountain lion are active).
Add in the fact that it is Spring time, and bears are emerging from hibernation, hungry and not to sound funny but just like most animals or humans for that matter,
when bears are hungry they can get hormonally 'cranky' and more prone to act out (the opposite is true on those large salmon rivers in late summer where when usually
aggressively competitive grizzlies can be seen quite close to each other without major incident since food is plentiful and bears are sated. Bear-bear conflicts in jockeying for top spot on the river/waterfall is another thing).
Sadly, with more people in the wilderness and more land being developed, bear-human encounters will only increase, the result often a lose-lose situation for both person and bear.
Most of the time, most bears are probably equally scared of humans and usually want nothing to do with people.