The American black bear, Ursus Americanus/Craig Medred photo
The American campground disrupters
Summer has officially begun in Alaska with the first public report of a unsettlng encounter with a misbehaving bear.
Scary as this one must have been for the two people involved, it ended well for all parties.
As best can be determined based on reports from biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and officials of the U.S. Forest Service, a curious black bear decided to investigate the popular Williwaw Campground in Portage Valley last Friday around 2:30 a.m.
It stumbled upon a smallish tent, scratched and bit at it – something curious bears are prone to do – and scared the bejesus out of the two campers inside.
They “realized it was a bear, and started yelling at it,” according to an email from Cynthia Wardlow, the regional supervisor for Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife.
At that, the bear promptly took off. It has not been seen since, but as a precautionary measure, Chugach National Forest officials are temporarily prohibiting tent camping and soft-side campers in their two campgrounds in Portage Valley.
“Though no serious injuries occurred, a Forest order is necessary to mitigate the bear hazard and protect the public,” the agency reported, although a woman in the tent was reportedly scratched in the face.
Since the Forest Service has refused to release their names, it is impossible to ask them what triggered their response, but it was the right one.
The best defense against a black bear – be it merely curious or dangerously interested in trying to make a human prey – is always a good offense.
The data
After examining records on 63 fatal black bear attacks in Canada and the U.S. between 1900 and 2009, wildlife researchers in 2011 reported that predatory attacks by black bears, though rare, do happen.
And predatory attacks exemplify the most dangerous of encounters with any bear.
“We know of incidents where a black bear behaved as if it were considering or carrying out a predatory attack and was deterred by people’s aggressive actions such as shouting, or hitting with rocks, fists, or sticks,” the researchers said. “Once predatory behavior is initiated it may persist for hours unless it is deterred.”
Firearms can, of course, put an end to this sort of behavior very quickly, and bear spray has proven effective though sometimes limited by the persistence of that “switch” of which the researchers warned.
“I sprayed (the bear) four times,” he said in a 2017 interview. “The first time I sprayed him at maybe two and a half meters (about 8 feet). I wanted to make sure I got him good.”
The bear ran off, but shortly came back, Foster said. It would keep running off and coming back for 45 minutes before finally losing interest. In that time, Foster sprayed it three more times and repeatedly ran at the animal screaming and hollering to make it clear he wasn’t going down easy while waving the can of bear spray as if preparing to spray it again.
Foster now teaches bear defense in Canada and when asked what he thinks would have happened if he hadn’t aggressively and repeatedly gone at the bear screaming, waving his arm and sometimes threatening it with that can of spray so as to push it back and save the pepper repellant in the can until he really needed it, he said this:
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation today. It was a flat-out predatory attack.”
The aggressive tactics utilized by Foster to save himself have no downside once one learns to tell the difference between black bears, which come in a variety of colors including a brownish looking “cinnamon,” and brown/grizzly bears that range in color from blonde to brown to almost black.
There are no records of anyone being killed by a black bear because they responded too aggressively to its approach.
Different bears
Behaving aggressively around a brown/grizzly bear, especially one with cubs, could, however, prove extremely dangerous. Grizzly bears with cubs are hardwired to attack to protect their young.
Nearly all attacks by such bears have proven upon later examination to be defensive in nature, which explains why the people attacked are far more often injured than killed.
The likelihood that sow, brown/grizzly with cubs will break off an attack before killing someone is what spawned the advice to play dead if attacked by a brown/grizzly bear accompanied by cubs. There is, thankfully. little to worry about when encountering a sow black bear with cubs.
Black bear sows might act as if they want to attack, but as the authors of the 2011 study on black bear fatalities noted, “a predatory attack is extremely unlikely since most predatory attacks by black bear were by single male bear. While female black bear, even with cubs, seldom attack people, they can be provoked into attacking if harassed by people or dogs.”
Dogs are the biggest problem. Canadian biologist Stephen Herrero, the best-known researcher of bear attacks in North America, years ago noted a disproportionate number of black bear attacks caused by dogs, and a classic attack of that nature happened just north of Pittsburgh in March of this year after a woman spotted a family of four black bears in her yard.
The entire family of bears then went up a tree in pursuit of safety from the woman and the dog, which is what black bears regularly do to avoid danger.
The differences between the behavior of black bears and brown/grizzly bears makes it vital to be able to tell the species apart in Alaska where people are liable to run into either. The Alaska Wildlife Division’s website is helpful here in that it has a variety of guides to identifying the separate species of bears and their sex.
The outlier
Suffice to say, it is never safe to play dead when attacked by a black bear, and usually wisest to play dead when attacked by a bigger and more powerful brown/grizzly bear sow with cubs unless it happens to be the rare outlier.
It is unknown whether the blood-gushing wound Moe put in the bear’s neck with the knife or the rifle shots killed the animal, but whichever was the case, Moe survived.
A friend who joined a group of people searching for Soltis after he went missing was subsequently mauled by the same bear, but others involved in the search were able to drive the bear off, underlining the importance of sometimes needing to be aggressive around bears.
This, however, comes with yet another caveat. Bears are far more easily intimidated by groups of people than by lone individuals, and although there is no solid information on the pre-attack behavior of the rare, predatory grizzly, the researchers who studied fatal black bear attacks, which are equally rare, said the behavior of such bears will betray their intent.
“With training, people can learn to recognize the behavior of a bear that is considering them as prey,” the researchers wrote. “Potentially predatory approaches are typically silent, and may include stalking or other following, followed by a fast rush leading to contact.”
This behavior differs from that of a black bear trying to scare people away.
“If bears do not flee (which they often do) they usually direct threats at the intruder,’ ‘the researchers wrote. “Black bear threats may include physical behaviors such as swatting the ground with one or both front paws, short charges (i.e., running toward)but stopping short of contact, slow and deliberate approaches, and clacking of the teeth by bringing the upper and lower jaws together.
“These displays may be directed at other bears or people. Sounds emitted by a black bear are also a component of threat behavior. These have been described as huffing, snorting, gurgling, and loud growling. Threat behaviors seldom lead to physical attack by a black bear provided the bear is given the personal space it requires to feel secure.”
A black bear acting like this is not typically dangerous, even if it is a sow with cubs. The black bear you need to watch out for is the one that sort of sidles up you.
“Bears did not typically display physical or vocal defensive threat behaviors during predatory attacks,” the researchers wrote. Those bears instead stalked people before rushing them and appeared to favor attacks on those they judged to be more vulnerable prey.
The researchers said they left with the “impression from our data…that young and older people may be more vulnerable to fatal attack because they may be perceived as less threatening and may be less able to resist serious attack.”
After he was attacked, other hikers and runners on the trial were unable to drive the bear off his body because apparently that “switch” the researchers described in their 2011 study had clicked.
in killing other nearby people, as demonstrated by the incidents in which two or three people were killed. Such bears appear to be strongly motivated.”
Cheap protection
Though there is no indication that the Portage incident involved a predatory black bear, camping under the shelter of fabric structures has been prohibited because fabric offers no protection against bears, although bears do usually avoid manmade structures.
Wardlow called it rare for a bear to try to enter a tent that contains no food as was the case here. But in a public campground, there is really no telling what previous campers may have done at the campsite.
Someone could have decided to cook bacon for breakfast days before and dispose of the bacon grease by pouring it on the ground nearby or brushed their teeth and spit out some very odiferous toothpaste nearby.
But even if you do that, there is no telling what others might have taught the bears – if the animals find food at campsites, or in neighborhood garbage cans for that matter, they quickly come to the conclusion these are good places to look for food and will return – or which bears might still be largely unfamiliar with humans and thus curious enough to investigate a tent.
Thankfully, black bears are – like the one at Portage illustrated – generally afraid of people who respond aggressively to their presence by yelling at them or, if need be, hitting them with anything handy or dousing them with pepper spray, which is now widely available in sporting goods stores across the state and sold in large volumes by Costco in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
It is today common to see people carrying the spray almost anywhere in the state because bear encounters, and the rare attacks or “incidents” as the Portage case is being called, can happen almost anywhere, including along Anchorage city trails and in Anchorage parks.
Two years ago, a walker on a stroll along the city’s very popular Coastal Trail shot a shaky and grainy video of a woman dancing around a trail-side sign with a black bear. Several times the bear reached out in an effort to paw the woman as she calmly maneuvered to keep the sign between them while talking quietly to the animal.
The bear eventually got tired of the dance, or was intimidated by the presence of other people along the trail, and wandered off. The woman was left unharmed, which is the best way for a bear encounter to end.
And the way most do end, thankfully.
That “switch” exists in many creatures, including humans. Among humans, it isn’t so much “predatory” as “murderous”. One can literally feel it from another. It can permeate the air in battle zones, prisons, and crime scenes to the point where the aura can almost be felt on the skin.
Can’t disagree with that. Would also appear to apply to that thing we now call “road rage,” which clearly can be triggered.
Thank you. Good info. Just black bears here in MN but they can be shockingly quiet when they want to be and surprise the heck out of you in the woods. Don’t panic.
Plan to chase them or at least make a lot of noise, like the article states. They run away most of the time. If they come back shortly afterwards, use pots and pans, anything you can make a lot of noise with – LOUD.
Don’t leave food anywhere in your vehicle or in your camp or in your garage. They have the sense of smell of gods. I’ve had my vehicle broken into – the back hatch ripped apart (a wedding gift that was a cordless printer – printer ink smells like popcorn) and a friend had his vehicle broke into because of tootsie rolls left in the front seat. If you live with black bears and like grilling, clean your grill with bleach or lemon juice. Also, lock your vehicle doors at night. I’ve heard the small deterrent, with a little luck, might stop them from breaking in the hatch/doors/windows.
I am more disturbed by the dozens of humans packing bear spray canisters on our multi-use trails than by the black bears found in our parks
Is it more disturbing than the ones carrying guns or machetes?