"only 14% of grizzly bear attacks are fatal" seems like this just downplays the danger. If a product on the shelves had "only 14%" chance of causing cancer people would be livid.
They are very fuckin dangerous. And very fuckin fast. They eat other grizzly bears without mercy too. Especially if there’s not enough salmon around.
In Canada kills by bears in the green belt is a known risk and they have procedures to try to lessen interference with the wild life for this reason. That’s the only reason why the deaths are down. It’s not like rural people are flaunting themselves at wildlife and have them as pets. The deaths start going up when city folk start wandering into the wild thinking every bear is a big ol puppy dog.
If you have any statistics to provide I would love to see them.
Meanwhile, yes Grizzlies can be extremely dangerous on the rare occasion they attack. How dangerous they are doesn't change the odds of being attacked. It just means you're more likely fucked if one does attack you. It's ok to be scared shitless of them. I am. But don't let the fear taint your reasoning.
Here are some more statistics. Hopefully folks can set aside their fear for a moment and analyze the risk with a level head. Keep in mind the number of visitors to wild areas is quite large.
There were 183 bear attacks in North America between 2000–2015.
There are 40 bear attacks around the world every year.
The odds of being attacked by a bear are one in 2.1 million.
On average, 24 deaths were caused by grizzly bears between 2000–2015.
There were six fatal bear attacks in Alaska from 2008–2018.
There were 22 human-bear incidents in the US Yosemite National Park in 2019.
Oh and by the way if you think national parks are just zoos, please by all means go tell that up close to the free roaming wild moose and bears in Yellowstone or Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, especially during the rut, and see how that works out for ya.
Being in the backcountry where you don't have as much wildlife management might be riskier. Although I would love to see statistics because many factors could play in. Bears being habituated to human presence and especially food is a major issue that increases bear encounters. So it's possible that backcountry encounters are rarer than in heavily visited parks.
Statistics? You’re not my job. I don’t work for you. I don’t do homework. And I owe you nothing. And I especially don’t owe you free work you entitled asshat.
And I won’t shut up from at least warning people so deal with it. And you’re so bent on hugging a grizzly, go for it mate, I can’t stop you. You’re not my job. you are absolutely full of shit.
I would need to see the specifics of that statistic but understand that most people who are in a situation to be attacked by a bear have done the research on what to do.
For a grizzly? Play dead while protecting your vitals to the best of your ability. So you either play dead or get knocked unconscious and effectively ARE dead. And then you live.
It is mostly untrained people who have no business being in the back country who die. Or people who are unfortunate enough to get between mama and her cubs.
So its one of those things where there are a LOT of other factors and not many actual attacks to begin with.
There's actually an interesting statistic where bear attacks from black bears are more likely to happen from the males, whereas attacks from grizzlies are more likely to happen from the females.
Black bear cubs have a strategy to run up the nearest tree when threatened and the mama bear guards the base of the tree rather than going on the offensive, so you are able to back away and avoid an attack a lot easier than a female grizzly, since grizzly cubs don't instinctually climb trees when threatened but inside rely on the mother to defend them by going on the offensive.
I'd think in general, "just a broken back" would not be an immediate death sentence (even if it's results in you being paralyzed and unable to effectively save yourself). However I also don't see it being likely that's all you'd suffer from a grizzly attack. If they've broken your back, you probably have one or two other injuries.