By: Jason Huang

Are Grizzly Bears Dangerous?

Late last month, a woman was killed by a grizzly bear and authorities have ended the search with no findings. However, people are more likely to be killed by a falling tree rather than being killed by a bear. Bears have killed a total of 10 people since 2010. “When you think of that, and you combine that with a population of a thousand grizzly bears, it is actually remarkable that there are so few serious incidents,” said Frank van Manen, who leads the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. He said attacks are so rare that statistically, the data doesn’t show any kind of upward trend at all. His team of biologists documents how many grizzly bears there are and they’ve documented that the population is three times larger than 5 decades ago, thanks to the fact that humans are willing to learn and adapt.

Are Humans Responsible For Them ?

To rancher and retired educator Hannibal Anderson “coexistence is part of life.” “It’s the human responsibility to figure out where the risks are,”he said. Anderson lives about 30 miles northeast of where the hiker got killed. His family moved here in the 1950s. Growing up there, he says that grizzlies are not much of a threat but at the right time, there can be lots of them grazing in sight because of a plant called caraway that is tasty to them. Ellery Vincent is a range rider, her job is to spend time with Anderson’s herd of cows because riders can fend off bears. Bears have a negative impact on the environment though, because they claw through the dirt which can make unwanted plants like weeds grow.

So you have heard that bears can kill people but they don’t attack you that often. They can also have negative impacts so when you’re out hiking see if you can spot a bear.