Bear attacks are “rare” because who actually reports them? Seriously, unless someone is hospitalized or killed, the kind of people who spend lots of time in the woods are not going to call the “authorities” (who is even the appropriate authority?). I have been charged by aggressive bears a few times in my life, and once I had to fight... one shovel stroke to the head was enough to send the bear in full retreat. I never even considered reporting these to anyone, and I’m sure there are thousands of others with similar experiences. Bears are unpredictable and dangerous, like ALL predators.
I live in western Pennsylvania, on a farm, near lots of state forest lands. Fifty years ago, I saw a bear when out for a drive in the fall in a remote area. I was SHOCKED! Called the state game department and they told me there were no bears in this area and laughed, said it must have been a large dog. Now, there are bears crossing my property daily. They show up on the game cams all the time. I’ve personally been within twenty feet of numerous bears on my own property. Last year I was driving down a farm road and thought I saw a cow where there were not supposed to be any, so I drove over there and it turned out to be a large male black bear I’d say weighed well over 300 lbs. I drove slowly up to him, and honked the horn, to scare him off, and he casually walked back to my car door and stood up on his hind legs, his chest was above the level of my car roof—and I could have reached out and touched him. About then I realized that it was probably not a good idea to have the window down, since his claws were about five inches long. That bear was NOT the slightest bit afraid of me, though I was trying to chase him off. I decided right then and there to never go riding my horse without a gun. I’ve seen bears cross my pastures whilst my horses were grazing there, the bear just skirted the horses, and the horses raised their heads and watched but didn’t seem particularly alarmed. I used to have a German shepherd and a blue heeler who kept an eye out for interlopers, but they are now gone. I see bear scat under my apple trees in the fall, and my gold fish pond gets raided by something big enough to tear apart the skimmer and waterfall. It’s getting to the point I don’t go out in the yard at night, since I now live alone and am near eighty.