Another person was attacked by a grizzly bear. This time it occurred in Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. The actual incidents of bear to human attacks are quite small when you think about the number of bears out in the wild. Now maybe if there were more people out there in the wilderness there might be more incidents, but the authorities think not. There has only been one fatality in the Gates of the Arctic NP due to a bear attack and that was back in 1996.
In this case, the woman was attacked after the bear tried to get into the hikers food tent. Their food was in bear-proof containers so it could not get anything. After tearing up a water container, it went to a woman’s tent and attacked her, leaving her with non-fatal injuries. It was scared off by her companions with pepper spray and noise.
I did a lot of marketing calls for A-C in Alaska in the past and talked with a guy who told me, (after I mentioned wanting to go to Gates of the Arctic NP), that there were a lot of bears up there and I had better bring a gun. Now you are allowed to have guns up in Alaska, even in most national parks, but you are only allowed to kill a bear if it is in self defense and you have tried every other common sense alternative. You must pack out the skull and properly skinned hide and end your planned itinerary immediately if this occurs.
There are several things you can do to avoid a confrontation with a bear. Besides the two articles we already have on www.Adventure-Space.com , we have a webpage on www.Adventure-Crew.com that gives great tips on wildlife safety, our Wildlife Precautions page. Make sure you are well educated about the area you will be backpacking or hiking in before you arrive to be sure you are well prepared. In spite of the two recent incidents of bear attacks, it is really unusual for a bear to attack without provocation as they are generally afraid of humans.
Now a bear that has become habituated to humans or has never seen a human will probably be different and therefore harder to scare off. You also need to talk with the rangers in the area you will be recreating in as bear behavior is different in different places. They are generally the best judge of how to avoid confrontations for their areas. Being prepared is the best defense, but there are times when even that might not help.