Originally Posted By: clearwater
One train of thought is that if a animal is attacking, it is better to kill it then, rather than run it off to later attack someone else again.


If a bear is treating a human as an annoyance or a threat to their cubs, that’s one thing. If a bear is trying to eat a human, that’s something entirely different. My reading leads me to think that bear spray is significantly less likely to deter a predatory bear, and I’d be a lot more inclined to use louder tools.

My real-world interactions with bears have been limited to taking pictures at the zoo, so I’m certainly no expert.