Fatal black bear attacks very rare, expert says
CANMORE — One of the world’s leading experts on bear attacks says a man’s death in B.C. fits a pattern, but cautions it’s still a rare event.
A Mackenzie, B.C., man, identified as 27-yearold Daniel Ward Folland O’Connor, was killed by a black bear at a campsite May 10 after he fell asleep outside near a firepit.
“It’s a male black bear and that’s consistent with a pattern,” said Stephen Herrero, a retired University of Calgary professor who spoke Tuesday at the 12th annual Western Black Bear Workshop in Canmore. “It was clearly, in my opinion, predatory because (the bear) killed him and dragged him off. I suspect he was partly fed on.
“But don’t blow it out of proportion,” he added.
A bear could also be behind this week’s death of Teresa Cassandra Robinson, an 11-year old girl in Manitoba. It appears she was mauled by an unknown animal, but people in the community told The Canadian Press they suspect it was a bear.
Herrero, an expert in animal ecology and behaviour, said a couple of fatal attacks occur every year, but noted North America is home to between 800,000 and 900,000 black bears.
“The incidents are very, very low,” he said, “but people need to recognize what circumstances are associated with it so they can avoid those attacks, so we can save those one or two people the horror of being preyed upon.”
In research released in 2011, Herrero and his team studied fatal black bear encounters across North America going back to 1900. Of the 63 deaths, 88 per cent were caused by a bear that showed predatory behaviour and 92 per cent involved male bears.
Herrero said the number of fatalities has grown over the decades — along with the population of both bears and people.
“The main predictor in these types of incidents is that more and more people are getting into the bush.”
Although bear attacks are rare, he said there can be warning signs.
“The behaviours leading up to them can be recognized,” Herrero said. “The approaches are typically silent, persistent, very focused and by a single bear, not by a female with cubs.”