Fatal Black Bear Attacks

One of the questions I'm often asked is if I am afraid of getting eaten by a bear. Well, it's not the 'eating' part I would be afraid of, because by the time I was actually being consumed, I would probably be far past caring. But still, I found a website that had some statistics on fatal black bear attacks over the past 25 years. Fortunately, the really scary bears, grizzlies, don't range east of the Mississippi.

So for you good folk concerned about fatal bear attacks...well, here you go!

#1 Manitoba - 1982,
#2 Tennessee - May 2000, Female hiker attacked, killed and partially consumed by a female, 112 pound bear and her 40 pound yearling, in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
#3 Quebec - July 2000, bear attacked and killed Mary-Beth Miller, 24, a biathlete while on training run.
#4 Northwest Territories - June 2001, Young male attacked and killed at rural campsite
#5 New Mexico - August 2001, bear breaks into house and is confronted by elderly owner who dies in ensuing attack.
#6 Fallsburg, New York - August 2002, bear grabs 5 month old infant and stroller from porch resulting in death of child.
#7 Quebec - September 2002, A man was attacked and killed in his campsite in the Gaspé region of Northern Quebec.
#8 British Columbia - September 2002, Man attacked and killed at a remote oil rigging site in northeastern B.C.
#9 Ontario - April 17 2003, forestry worker stalked, killed and partially consumed by large, male black bear. No rabies or other illness detected during necropsy.
#10 Northwest Territories - 2005, 71-year-old Merlyn Carter was found dead behind the main cabin of his sport-fishing camp about 300 kilometres northeast of Fort Smith. Family members shot and killed the black bear responsible.
#11 Manitoba - August 26, 2005, A 69-year-old man was fatally mauled by a black bear while out picking plums north of Winnipeg
#12 Ontario - Jacqueline Perry, 30, died in a predatory attack in Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park. Here husband was seriously injured trying to protect her and then her body.