I think a lot of bear attacks are because people are feeding bears, and bringing bears in closer to humans. Now bears lose their fear of humans, and they feel comfortable being closer to humans, until they dont. That is when they attack. I am not afraid of bears, I just dislike them destructive bastards. I dont like raccoon, it isnt that I am afraid of themor dont understand them, I dont care what you are, animal, insect, or human, if you come and destroy my stuff, you are added to my hitlist.
I agree and dis agree
I don;t really think bear attacks are UP due to folks feeding them(I do NOT believe people should feed them)
but my experiences with folks feeding bears has been that most of the problems caused by them doing so, tends to come AFTER they fun or thrill or what ever it is that got folks to FED them in the first place wears off, TON"S of folks in rural places do this, they want pictures, videos or?? what ever, NOT think what will happen down the road when the FUN run out!
and then they STOP feeding the bear's,
and that'/s when the problems start
as the bear got used to the easy meals, and doesn;t understand WHY they stopped
then add in the bears ability to SMELL the food yet, inside these peoples homes, and well, then the bears start to think, well MAYBE I should get break in and get the food, maybe them people just ain't home to GIVE it to me, mind sets!
and that's IMO< when the problems happen
the same folks that FED the bears start to call and complain about bears damage or ??
yet they CREATED the problem/situation
they turned a more wild animal into a not so wild animal
this si where I disagree some
these bears in MY experience with trapping and relocating a bears over 30+ yrs, has been there not any more aggressive, as a fact many are less aggressive, almost friendly to humans, as many LOST there fear of humans
so them attacking is not more common, unless you really consider them being close to humans more being an attack, I have known a TON of people that feed bears or fed them, like pets(NO agreeing with this at all, but I have known many having worked with game depts, you find these folks and some you get to know)
almost NONE OF them get attacked, and are up close and personal with bears almost daily some of them
they do create many times bear problems, or lets say problem bears!
this is why NO one should feed bears!
Bear attacks IMO< and based on the info I gained over the yrs, comes down to 3 things typically
1.) you got too close and startled the bear and put it into a defense mod or protection mode if its a female with young!
2.) you are dealing with a sick or injured animal, or wounded(same as injured)
3.) a cornered animal
I will agree there can be exceptions to things, but there rare, if you read about bear attacks the above 3 are what causes most attacks
not bears being fed by humans making them aggressive!
and again I say NOT feed bears its bad for the bear and no help to humans!
just making for possible problems
a wild healthy bear will go out of its way to avoid humans and conflicts!
bear sightings and human conflicts are UP< mostly due to human expansion, and too many humans NOT knowing how to co exist living where bears are
making for situations where bears get into trouble easy
excessive food in trash, or about homes and properties, creating problems, as bears live by there noses and like all living things, we all like easy meals
this is the number # complaint game depts get in bear area's
folks complaining about bears BEING bears, due to they have easy food about to LURE bears into there property, yet these people tend to ONLY blame the bear and never themselves for the problems!