Man survives bear attack, but animal euthanized

Although I feel sorry for the groundskeeper if he is telling the truth, I find the details of this so called "attack" suspicious. This is not normal black bear behavior, and I believe there are a lot of missing facts here. Black bears are not predatory animals are usually quite timid of people. There is no reason this animal had to be destroyed. People need to become more educated on black bears in NJ.

I wonder if he had any type of food or beverage in his cart that got the bears attention.

The only thing you feel sorry for is the bear! Bears are wild, they are unpredictable. Further education is needed, but population control, via a controlled hunt is necessary. Thank God, the groundskeeper was not hurt or killed!

Doreen Kassa wrote:

Although I feel sorry for the groundskeeper if he is telling the truth, I find the details of this so called "attack" suspicious. This is not normal black bear behavior, and I believe there are a lot of missing facts here. Black bears are not predatory animals are usually quite timid of people. There is no reason this animal had to be destroyed. People need to become more educated on black bears in NJ.

It always amazes me how passionate people can become about something they have not educated themselves about. It is not enough to say that bears are cute and timid. I can only advise the passionate activists out there to please educate themselves about bears. They are wild animals. Understood is the belief that "we" being humans are encroaching on their territory with our development of homes... etc... but that doesn't make the tragic eating of an infant in Upstate NY by a bear simply a part of life. Just as we need to keep the deer numbers down to prevent fatal car accidents and tremendous damage to our crops, we need to keep the bear population in check to prevent the destruction of homes, killing of livestock, housepets and yes indeed... the killing of humans.

The problem with activists is often they think only with their hearts. They feel that the black bears can't defend themselves so they need to do it for them. It is very understandable and sweet but I often wonder how these people would feel if it were their child snatched from a stroller or if it were they themselves who were mauled in Crystal Springs.

Bears are wild animals. Unpredictable and deadly and not at all cute and cuddly.

Black bears are highly individual and variable.
This female may have been unstable or something. The incident certainly sounds like unprovoked agression, though the bear used very little of her strength in attacking. Black bears are extremely strong and can do great damage if they attack full force. I think this individual bear had emotional problems that made her unusually irritable.

Black bears vary greatly depending on geographical area. Along the East Coast, they are basically harmless unless pushed to extremes.(The infamous baby incident falls into the "freak accident" category. Any meat-meater with scavenger instincts would have behaved the same way.) But in other areas, black bears can be dangerous, especially in the remote north woods of central to western Canada. If you look at the Wikipedia compilation of fatal incidents by decade, there have already been more this decade than in all of the 90's and the majority have involved black bears, not grizzlies.

In these areas, unusual or aggressive behavior from a black bear may indicate predatory intent and you have to be on guard.

Cheers,

JerryBear

P.S.

But bears really can be cute and cuddly as well as unpredictable and deadly. If they get in touch with their "inner cub", even a big fierce grizzly can suddenly turn into a thousand pounds of cute as he rolls on his back playing with his feet. A few black bears in Yosemite have taken to "making friends" with hikers and rubbing up against them as a way of soliciting treats. Bears have the largest, most complex brains and the greatest intelligence of all North American land animals. Trained circus bears can do things only primates can otherwise do. Their intelligence is certainly comparable. A black bear is at least as intelligent as a baboon. Bears are highly emotional creatures with well-developed individual personalities. This is what makes them so fascinating. They are not just ravening monsters of fang and claw. Please keep in mind that black bears along the Eastern Seaboard, from Florida to Nova Scotia, have a safety record unmatched by any other large animal, wild or domestic (and domesticated animals cause more serious injuries and deaths than wild ones even in a place like British Columbia with more than its share of genuinely dangerous wild animals, including some really fierce bears). The vast majority of areas have not had serious injuries or fatalities in centuries even with large populations of bears and humans living in close proximity. Where you live, you don't need to be afraid of the bears, just treat them with respect. Their personalities vary quite as much as humans, but the bears of the Atlantic Seaboard learned a long time ago not to be agressive towards humans and this is why there was something abnormal about this female.

JerryBear wrote:

Black bears are highly individual and variable.
This female may have been unstable or something. The incident certainly sounds like unprovoked agression, though the bear used very little of her strength in attacking. Black bears are extremely strong and can do great damage if they attack full force. I think this individual bear had emotional problems that made her unusually irritable.
Black bears vary greatly depending on geographical area. Along the East Coast, they are basically harmless unless pushed to extremes.(The infamous baby incident falls into the "freak accident" category. Any meat-meater with scavenger instincts would have behaved the same way.) But in other areas, black bears can be dangerous, especially in the remote north woods of central to western Canada. If you look at the Wikipedia compilation of fatal incidents by decade, there have already been more this decade than in all of the 90's and the majority have involved black bears, not grizzlies.
In these areas, unusual or aggressive behavior from a black bear may indicate predatory intent and you have to be on guard.
Cheers,
JerryBear

I would have to point out that though the "freak accident" baby-eating bear incident "did" happen. No matter how you slice it, bears are unpredictable wild animals. They can be aggressive especially if a toddler playing in her yard runs close to a tree where the female's cub is hiding. They have attacked pets and farm animals and I beg to differ in opinion, they do not know the difference between a cow, sheep, horse, dog or a human. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you run the risk of attack.

The spring started with a horrible incident of a horse owner finding her horse dismembered and devoured in her pasture in Vernon.

They are wild animals. Humans take precedence. We are the superior being and we need to protect our species.

People need to stop devoloping all the land!

Stop the Madness wrote:

The only thing you feel sorry for is the bear! Bears are wild, they are unpredictable. Further education is needed, but population control, via a controlled hunt is necessary. Thank God, the groundskeeper was not hurt or killed!
<quoted text>

Yes Doreen - the man was telling the truth, as I lived in the area and talked to his sister about this incident.

Doreen Kassa wrote:

Although I feel sorry for the groundskeeper if he is telling the truth, I find the details of this so called "attack" suspicious. This is not normal black bear behavior, and I believe there are a lot of missing facts here. Black bears are not predatory animals are usually quite timid of people. There is no reason this animal had to be destroyed. People need to become more educated on black bears in NJ.

It appears most of these posts are not recent... even so I hope that people in northern NJ (esp. Sussex County, which borders on NY and PA) will use caution with the increasing bear population. I've lived there and seen bear activity. It seems only a matter of time before some tragedy will make NJ face the situation - too many people crowding the bears and bears under stress will bring about situations!

Bears are cute!! OK!!
BUT they are BIG, unpredictable, powerful and potentially dangerous animals!
I happen to live in North West New Jersey and come in contact with the beasts frequently.
I respect their right to survive but I have to remind them that my house is off limits.
Whatever I can do to chase these animals away from my Home-Street-Block I will always attempt.
The problem always happens when we decide to feed them or we think that even though they are big and wild we can still hand feed them!!
I think these animals are in the same league as raccoons.
Respect them as wild animals and destroy them if they present themselves as a hazard to YOU!

Doreen Kassa wrote:

Although I feel sorry for the groundskeeper if he is telling the truth, I find the details of this so called "attack" suspicious. This is not normal black bear behavior, and I believe there are a lot of missing facts here. Black bears are not predatory animals are usually quite timid of people. There is no reason this animal had to be destroyed. People need to become more educated on black bears in NJ.

You live outside of Sussex county? Mind your own freakin buisness! Bear activists care more about the animals than their own kind. We Need a controled hunt no doubt about it. And until that occurs ,if any animal bear or human threaten our safty I will deal with it Any way I see fit regardless of the whiny, self rightious, self appointed caretakers of the wild. HAVE A NICE DAY!....AND DON'T FORGET TO COVER YOUR GARBAGE!!!!!

When the dog killed the bear cub in Jefferson, NJ when the cub walked onto the property, the NJSPCA called for the killing of the dog! The dog's owner was charged and is facing a $2000.00 fine and 2 years in jail! OK, I just don't get it. An attacking dog that was protecting its owner and property should be killed but an attacking bear should not? The dog's owner should be charged because her dog was doing what dogs do to protect their owners? My wife was visiting a friend in Ogdensburg, NJ and witnessed a bear wandering around the grammar school and kindergarten building. The bear then walked up the hill to High St. where it stopped at a house on Madden Ave. to poke around the yard smelling the children's toys. It will only be a matter of time when a child is injured or killed by a bear in New Jersey. Who will be held accountable then? The NJDEP for letting the bear population grow to unmanageable proportions and encouraging its growth over the course of the last thirty years, any of these so called "animal lovers" or "animal lover groups like the SPCA or PETA? The trouble with activists is that they don't think with their hearts or their brains when animals are given more rights and caring than children. One of the comments about the dog killing the bear cub was that we should imagine a 4 or 5 year old child in the place of the cub. What if we instead imagine a 4 or 5 year old child in place of the grounds keeper?

It is imperative that we all do cover our garbage, etc. doing whatever we can do deter these bears from coming in such close contact.

Bears come in close contact because they LIVE in close contact. It is imperative that we significantly reduce the number of bears in New Jersey by whatever means possible. You can cover your garbage and even keep it in your garage. Bears have broken into garages to get at the garbage the owner thought was protected. Covering your garbage will NOT prevent a bear attack on a child. The only thing that will reduce the number of bear-human interactions is to reduce the number of bears.

grassfox wrote:

Bears come in close contact because they LIVE in close contact. It is imperative that we significantly reduce the number of bears in New Jersey by whatever means possible. You can cover your garbage and even keep it in your garage. Bears have broken into garages to get at the garbage the owner thought was protected. Covering your garbage will NOT prevent a bear attack on a child. The only thing that will reduce the number of bear-human interactions is to reduce the number of bears.

Agreed!

What do you suggest we do?

whatever needs to be done

Bear Fear wrote:

What do you suggest we do?

Have a bear hunt - an extended bear hunt - and reduce the number of bears. Then have a bear hunting season every year to keep the population within reasonable numbers.

Amen and hallelujah!~!!!!