Despite being blasted with an entire can of bear spray, then being pounded with the empty can by a hiker desperate to save his dog, a black bear in Canada still killed the animal and brought its carcass off.
It was a stunning, however very uncommon attack, the similarity which most likely won’t take place here, Wyoming, Colorado and Montana wildlife authorities informed Cowboy State Daily. But it’s still a practical demonstration how black bears can be aggressive and unforeseeable.
The bear most likely assaulted since it was starving, said retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Chris Servheen of Missoula, Montana.
The bear “already had the dog in his mouth. He was very concerned about getting something to eat and was willing to put up with a lot of abuse to keep the dog,” Servheen said.
‘Holy Crap’
Wyoming Game and Fish Department big predator expert Dan Thompson said it was disconcerting to check out the attack.
“My honest initial response from reading that was, ‘Holy crap,’” Thompson said, including that Canadian wildlife representatives did the best thing by quickly locating the bear, a 204-pound male, and eliminating it.
“I’m sure those professionals are taking some heat for properly dealing with that circumstance, but that kind of behavior is not something that can be tolerated and wanes tolerance for black bears in general,” Thompson said.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department likewise has a zero-tolerance policy relating to black bears that are aggressive towards human beings, company spokesperson Joey Livingston informed Cowboy State Daily.
Simply assaulting a family pet, however not straight threatening individuals, wouldn’t necessitate eliminating the bear, according to CPW procedure, he said.
But like Servheen and Thompson, he worried that black bears usually don’t attack.
“It is very rare for black bears to become aggressive toward people or pets, and usually some human-provided food source is involved,” he said.
A Pattern Of Aggression?
In this case, individuals were treking with 2 dogs in Jasper National Park in Alberta on Saturday when the bear approached them, according to reports from the Parks Canada Agency.
The dogs were off leash, and the bear at first bolted when among the dogs chased it.
The tables turned, and the dog came running back towards its owners with the bear on its heels, Parks Canada reports. When the 2nd dog began barking at it, the bear assaulted, getting among the dogs in its jaws.
One of the hikers cleared a can of bear spray at close quarters, and when that didn’t work begun mauling the bear with the empty can. That likewise didn’t work, and the bear brought the dog off into the woods.
Wildlife representatives tracked the bear down and killed it the next day and found that it had actually stowed away the dog’s carcass close by.
It’s not the very first time there’s been issue about black bear attacks in Canada.
Retired Canadian wildlife representative Murray Bates composed in 2015 that throughout his 34-year profession, he’s seen an uptick in hostility, consisting of circumstances of black bears hunting down, killing and consuming human beings.
There’s been no such pattern of black bear hostility in Wyoming or throughout the American West, wildlife authorities informed Cowboy State Daily at the time.
Seeing Pups, Or People, As Food
The most recent deadly black bear attack in this area remained in spring 2021, when Laney Malavolta, 39, was killed by a female black bear with 2 yearling cubs near Durango, Colorado.
Her body was partly consumed, according to reports.
Black bear attacks are almost constantly driven by cravings Servheen said, including that grizzly bears typically assault since someone surprised them.
He was the Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear healing planner for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2016 and is now the board chair and president of the Montana Wildlife Federation.
But aggressive black bears want a meal, Servheen said.
“Most attacks by grizzlies are because of surprise encounters with people,” he said. “When black bears attack, it’s not because they’re surprised, it’s because they’re looking for something to eat.”
However, black bear attacks are a vanishingly uncommon anomaly, he said.
“You’re much more likely to be struck by lightning than to be attacked by a black bear,” he said.
That’s regardless of the truth that the chances of coming across a black bear are far higher than those of fulfilling a grizzly in the wild, Servheen said.
There are an approximated 40,000 to 50,000 grizzlies in North America, compared to as numerous as 900,000 black bears, he said.
Pooches Can Cause Trouble
CPW prompts individuals to keep dogs on leashes in bear nation, Livingston said, since that’s best for dogs, individuals and bears.
Servheen concurred it’s finest to keep dogs leashed, or a minimum of under direct control, when out in the wild.
The dog running back towards its owner, with the bear in tow, throughout the attack in Canada is a traditional example of what can fail, he said.
“If your dog is out there ranging around and it tangles with a bear – black bear or grizzly – the dog’s reaction is going to be to run back to you, and he’s going to bring the bear right back to you,” Servheen said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at [email protected].
