ARE BLACK BEARS DANGEROUS TO PEOPLE?
Black bear “attacks” on humans are both defensive and offensive. Defensive attacks are fairly common, especially in parks, campgrounds, and similar situations where humans and black bears are brought into close contact and bears are habituated or conditioned to humans and human foods. Injuries, typically minor scratches, occur when people crowd, pet, or hand-feed bears and intrude on the animal’s personal space. However, defensive attacks are much less frequent than suggested by the animal’s aggressive displays. In 1 Yosemite study, <6% of 992 human-bear interactions involved aggression, none of which resulted in physical contact. Similarly, <6% of 624 aggressive acts by "panhandling" bears in the Great Smoky Mountains resulted in contact. Such incidents diminish when area managers remove artificial food sources and educate the public about bear behavior. In a Yosemite study, fear was the human behavior most likely to elicit an aggressive response by black bears, followed by neutrality
Black bear “attacks” on humans are both defensive and offensive. Defensive attacks are fairly common, especially in parks, campgrounds, and similar situations where humans and black bears are brought into close contact and bears are habituated or conditioned to humans and human foods. Injuries, typically minor scratches, occur when people crowd, pet, or hand-feed bears and intrude on the animal’s personal space. However, defensive attacks are much less frequent than suggested by the animal’s aggressive displays. In 1 Yosemite study, <6% of 992 human-bear interactions involved aggression, none of which resulted in physical contact. Similarly, <6% of 624 aggressive acts by "panhandling" bears in the Great Smoky Mountains resulted in contact. Such incidents diminish when area managers remove artificial food sources and educate the public about bear behavior. In a Yosemite study, fear was the human behavior most likely to elicit an aggressive response by black bears, followed by neutrality
