We have a man here in Fort St. James that will be relieved to hear that the
the female black bear with cubs, that attacked and mauled him without
warning and then pulled him out of a tree after he got away, was only
bluffing.
Also, Dateline NBC's (Tuesday, August 25th) story on black bears in Yosemite
would disagree with the statement that female black bears do not attack.

Randy Rawluk
Fort St. James B.C.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tully Hammill <hammill at u.washington.edu>
To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: August 27, 1998 10:51 AM
Subject: Female Black Bears


>Female black bears are never dangerous --- at least that's what a roomful
of
>bear experts at the recent international bear conference in Gatlinburg,
>Tennessee unanimously agreed (Lynn Rogers, Barry Gilbert, and Stephen
>Herrero among them).
>
>The well-learned lesson about female *brown* bears attacking humans to
>protect cubs seems to have been projected incorrectly on to black bears.
>
>A black bear mother will often bluff charge, clack teeth, huff and puff,
but
>there are no records of contact (I and doubtless others would welcome any
>new data)
>
>The evidence of danger from male black bears in wilderness areas (this
>excepts all the lower 48, Herrero maintains), however, is growing rapidly.
>The black bear that circles you furtively or approaches very gradually is
>probably seeing you as prey: you may be in great danger. This behavior is
>not the usual pattern, of course. Which aggressive actions to carry out in
>this situation is a matter of lengthy debate --- not food for an extended
>tweeters thread.
>
>I thought, though, that many folks might be relieved to hear about female
>black bears and their cubs and the remarkable unanimity of bear biologists
>on this score.
>
>-Tully
>
>
>