tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post5225446945333413503..comments2023-12-16T02:39:56.603-06:00Comments on Gordon Grice: Black Bear Attacks Woman in ArizonaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-31163465273388563612011-08-05T10:02:31.303-05:002011-08-05T10:02:31.303-05:00As I understand it from later news reports, neighb...As I understand it from later news reports, neighbors and motorists came to the woman's aid, scaring the bear up a tree. But it came down and attacked her a second and then a third time. It was only through extraordinary efforts that these others managed to keep the bear from killing the woman. (She has since died in hospital, however.) In a carnivorid, this kind of focused attack, with the chosen prey preferred even in the face of danger, is classic predatory behavior. In black bears specifically, experts will consider whether witnesses observed defensive behaviors, such as warning grunts or bluff charges, or predatory behaviors, such as stalking the victim or dragging the body. Unfortunately, the news stories I've seen on this one haven't had any information about those matters.<br /><br />In a 2009 review of fatal black bear attacks, Stephen Herrero and his colleagues classed most of the fatalities as predatory, including most of the cases that involved bears drawn by human food or garbage. 38% of the fatalities involved garbage or human food; but they found no fatalities from bears defending some other sort of food, such as a deer carcass. What this probably means is that the bears are drawn by the garbage and then become habituated to human presence, so much so that they then feel comfortable treating humans as prey items.Gordon Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13068980330242909601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-34822388878670294972011-08-04T18:39:01.172-05:002011-08-04T18:39:01.172-05:00How can they assume it was a predatory attack sinc...How can they assume it was a predatory attack since the bear did not immediately kill and eat the woman's flesh? It sounds more like a n attack in defense of the bear's food (the dumpster).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com