Black Bear Kills Rutgers Student During a Hike in New Jersey

This was a shock. A college student was killed, and possibly eaten by a black bear in New Jersey. We have friends that used to live in that area, and they used to tell us the bears were becoming more and more of a problem, losing all fear of humans. In one incident they knew of, a bear had stalked some teenage kids.

We have bears on our camp property, and this makes me think seriously that we should all carry at least pepper spray when we go into the woods. I remember a post here a few years ago by a guy who was treed by a very aggressive black bear and saved himself with pepper spray.

It also confirms my thought that bears near populated areas need hunting pressure in order to re-instill their fear of humans.

David

Hmmm, 5 fit young male humans behaving like prey animals running away from the bear was probably the problem here.

We have bears here. They are often indifferent to humans. I think I need to scare them more.

You may be correct. But in the case of a tragedy like this, I try to hold off on blaming the victim at least until his body is cold.

David

4 of them only needed to be faster than the 5th one?????

Granted, the article doesn't provide much information, but, from what is provided, it seems possible the bear was being predatory. While the risk of death with black bear interactions is very low, Dr. Herrero's study of fatal attacks found that the bear was acting as a predator in 88% of the fatalities (Fatal Attacks by American Black Bear on People: 1900–2009).

Talking about this predatory behaviour, the study notes:

"Potentially predatory approaches are typically silent, and may include stalking or other following, followed by a fast rush leading to contact. We know of incidents where a black bear behaved as if it were considering or carrying out a predatory attack and was deterred by people’s aggressive actions such as shouting, or hitting with rocks, fists, or sticks. Once predatory behavior is initiated it may persist for hours unless it is deterred. After 1 person has been killed by a black bear, the bear may attempt or succeed in killing other nearby people, as demonstrated by the 3 incidents in which 2 or 3 people were killed. Such bears appear to be strongly motivated, as if a switch had been thrown."

The study also noted: "... no one who was killed by a black bear had bear spray. Nor was bear spray available for other party members to deter the attacking bear."

Local news this morning said he turned and ran. Don't know if the bear was stalking, surprised or just acted out of instinct.

NJ and NY parks agencies are making a concerted effort to educate hikers and campers about the increasing bear population and what to do if you encounter one.

They knew the bear was there and ran.

From the cited story: "They encountered a black bear, which began to follow them, //snip//

The friends told the police they scrambled to get away from the bear, all running in different directions."

I suspect that acting together, they could have scared the bear off by making lots of noise, standing together and throwing things at the bear.

I'm fairly confident that when the bear saw them run and split up, (as a group of deer might) his predatory instincts cut in.

I have never encountered a bear but I recon it takes a lot of gut to just stand still when you stumblee upon one in the woods. Can´t say for sure that I would have the nerves to not run even though I know I can´t outrun a bear.

Yep, with canines it's called Prey Drive, it's probably similar with bears. You run, you look much more like something that needs to be chased/run down and possibly killed/eaten (depending on type of carnivore doing the chase). Stand your ground and throw rocks or hit them with pepper spray and you appear much less appealing. FWIW, possibly not much...