Bear Attacks Quotes

“study of these issues was going on in Yellowstone Park, where Frank and John Craighead were finishing a long-term project on grizzly bear ecology”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“Similarly, bear cubs have been observed eating their mothers several hours after the mother’s death. Signals between bears are fundamentally important—a mother bear may become a carcass to be scavenged if she stops signaling, I am functioning as your mother. Bears appear to be more pragmatic than sentimental.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“Adult female grizzlies may also rarely kill other bears. John Crawford tells of an incident observed by Alaskan pioneers Stan and Edna Price at Pack Creek in southeastern Alaska.25 A young grizzly (brown) bear mother with one cub was approached by an adult male. The mother bear growled, and the male tried to leave, but she ran after and caught him. In less than twenty seconds the female “bit and tore at the bear’s head, nearly scalping him, and, with a ripping bite low on the flank, eviscerated him. But the bear, after being mortally injured, still managed to bite her deeply in the back and sever her spinal column.” Both bears were dead when Stan Price examined them.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“Running toward and throwing objects at an approaching bear were two of the most effective techniques. Other effective methods were yelling, clapping hands, and banging pots together. Combinations of these mildly aggressive acts seemed to be particularly effective. The farther a bear got into camp, and especially if it was already eating people’s food, the harder it was to chase away.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“What species of bears live in the area you will be visiting: black bears, grizzly bears, or both? I have already documented that black bear females with cubs are much less dangerous in sudden encounters compared to grizzly bear females with cubs. In areas where both species are found, it is sometimes difficult even for the experts to identify whether a given individual is a black bear or a grizzly. When in doubt, assume the most dangerous case—that it is a grizzly.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“Most daytime grizzly bear attacks are defensive, and most daytime, persistent black bear attacks are predatory. Still, both species may attack defensively or predatorily. The species of bear involved in such attacks offers only a rule of thumb regarding how you should react to try to minimize injury. An additional rule of thumb is this: If an attack cannot be deterred and is defensive, play dead; if predatory, fight back.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“The problem of habituated, food-conditioned grizzly bears is not superficial. In the worst cases these circumstances have been associated with grizzly bear–inflicted deaths. Between 1967 and 1980, nine deaths occurred in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Banff National Parks. Eight of these deaths were caused by seven different grizzly bears, all of which were habituated and food-conditioned. The ninth incident was caused by a habituated grizzly bear that didn’t have a known history of feeding on people’s food or garbage (see page 63). These tragedies were probably avoidable.”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

“Bozeman, Montana”
― Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance