Originally Posted By: hikermor
Do put bear attacks in perspective. You are much more likely to suffer an injury/fatality from falls, drowning, or motor vehicle accidents than from a bear attack. In a typical year, honey bees kill more people than bears. overall, bear attacks are unusual, which is why they are reported in thee media....


I don't want to hype the danger, but as a couple others have commented statistics don't tell the whole story. Maybe only one in a few million folks get attacked by a bear but consider how many bears there are in Chicago, L.A., NYC, Miami, etc. If you're hiking in Olympic Natl Park our odds of encountering a bear go up quite a bit.

Obsessing over bear attacks is silly but this place is called ETS! That means being prepared for the situations we can reasonably foresee. An encounter with a bear is one of those things. In my life there has been one time when I have been within 10 feet of a bear in the wild; it was looking me over pretty good for a bit then boogied out of there. Still the speed of the fella was surprising especially given the size.
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