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Information released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows the number of grizzly bears killed in defense of human life is 5-10 times greater than previously thought.On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published a proposal to revise the listing of the grizzly bears in the contiguous 48 states. The proposal includes the most complete information on grizzly bear mortality to date.Studies to determine how effective various tools are in defending against grizzly bear attacks suffer from serious selection bias. If the defense is successful and no humans are harmed, the chance of the attack...

The black bear, which the authorities named Fuzzy, caused little damage but cleaned out much of the inventory at a popular parlor on south shore of Lake Tahoe.Early Sunday morning, hours before the first waffle cone of the day was topped with a scoop at an ice cream parlor near the south shore of Lake Tahoe in California, a security guard heard a noise. At first, he thought it was coming from a dumpster behind the parlor at Camp Richardson, a 128-acre resort in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. But when he aimed his flashlight in the container, it was empty....

In 1975, when grizzly bears in the lower 48 states were regulated as “threatened” by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, the standard required to use deadly force against them, in defense of self and others, was unclear. In 2017 and 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit created a binding precedent that clarified the standard to be used when a person claimed defense of self and/or others against grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.The standard is different and lower than the standard to be used for self-defense against humans.From the...

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A Connecticut woman shared video of a bear that wandered onto her property and ended up beating the heat with a dip in her pool. Theresa Sanderson shared video of the bear swimming laps in the pool behind her Newington home. She said the bear spent several minutes swimming before climbing out of the water and wandering away from her property. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said there have been 51 reported bear sightings in Newington so far this year. An Auburn, Calif., resident shared video in May of a mother bear and...

A Florida man has been arrested for stealing two Smokey the Bear signs from state forests and selling them for $1,900 each on Facebook Marketplace. Reacting to the arrest, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson thanked Smokey the Bear for assisting law enforcement in apprehending the as-yet-unnamed suspect. For context, Simpson criticized the crime and warned potential thieves against targeting state forests, noting the state’s vigorous law enforcement. Florida has invested over $93 million in equipment to preserve its forests and treats them as a high priority. In any case, Simpson began his hilarious announcement with a rhetorical question, asking, “What...

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A British Columbia woman's home security camera recorded the moment a bear that broke into her house was chased back out by her 6-pound Pomeranian. Kayla Kleine shared security camera footage from her West Vancouver home showing the moment a bear wandered into the house Monday while she had the door propped open for circulation amid high heat The footage shows the bear investigating the home's TV before raiding the breakfast Kleine had put out for her small dog, Scout. Seconds later, Scout comes running out from a side room and chases the bear while barking....

On July 19, 2025, Brett TerBeek and his hunting partner Andy were scouting for a moose hunt in the interior of Alaska. They were 60 miles up a remote river, about 3/4 of a mile from the riverbank toward some high ground.They carried 10 mm Glock model 20 pistols in chest holsters for self-defense. A huge grizzly charged them from 10 yards in thick cover. They stopped the bear at 5 yards with 16 shots of controlled rapid fire.Tyler Freel has been documenting the incident. From outdoorlife.com:Brett told me that as Andy said that, he turned and saw the huge...

On the evening of May 21, 2025, Justin Lee and his brother-in-law, John Long, were charged by a grizzly bear and were forced to shoot it in self-defense.They were hunting for mushrooms along Spring Creek, on a property owned by Justin, a few miles north of Choteau, Montana. Both men are longtime residents of the area. The creek has lots of mature cottonwoods, waist-high dead grass, and a fair amount of brush in some areas. Justin and John drove to the property on a side-by-side four-wheeler. When they were close to the area where mushrooms had been found, they parked...

Conservation officers say trails closed in area after e-bikers attacked by 2 grizzly bears in southeast B.C.A man was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a grizzly bear attack near Creston, B.C., officers say. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) said in a social media post that the attack happened around 4:30 p.m. Saturday when a husband and wife were riding e-bikes along the Kootenay River near West Creston in southeast B.C. The service said the wife heard her husband scream and saw a grizzly bear running at her. She used bear spray and then realized a second bear was attacking...

Romania has the highest brown (grizzly) bear population in the European Union, and the highest number of fatal bear attacks. Russia has many more bears, including more in the European part of Russia, but most Russian bears are in Asia.A study using DNA, which started in 2022 and finished in 2025, is the most accurate measurement of Romanian brown bears. The study shows a brown bear population of between 10,419 and 12,770 in Romania, about twice the previously thought number.In 2021, estimates of the brown (grizzly) bear population ranged from 2,000 to 10,000. From rferl.org in 2021:The official number of...

A grizzly bear charged a man near his residence along Foothill Road east of Kalispell on the night of July 10, 2025. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, the person heard a disturbance outside and discovered the bear getting into a chicken coop. The bear charged at him, and the man shot and killed it. The man was not injured in the encounter. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is investigating the incident. This is at least the fifth such incident in recent weeks: A man shot and killed a grizzly bear that was threatening him on the northeast...

June 11 (UPI) -- A Florida bear seen enjoying a resident's hot tub and taking a long backyard nap was later captured and relocated with the help of doughnuts. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the bear was spotted in a Punta Gorda neighborhood on Sunday.

Few studies have examined the effectiveness of firearms in defense against bears. This may be because early experience with modern firearms against bears showed them to be incredibly effective compared to muzzleloading firearms, which were far superior to bows and spears.Before Christopher Columbus pioneered a regular and profitable way to travel to the Caribbean and the New World, Amerindians had difficulty defending themselves and their food against grizzly bears.Grizzly bears migrated into the area occupied by the 48 contiguous states a bit after humans, about 12,000 to 16,000 years ago. The bears originated in Europe and Asia, and had colonized...

Some people can't be taught. That brings us to Downieville, a Gold Rush village up in the Sierras where an elderly woman living alone was mauled by a bear who broke into her house and killed her. ... a sheriff’s deputy found Miller’s lifeless body in her kitchen. Her right leg and left arm had been partially gnawed off. On the floor around her were the large paw prints of a bear. ... autopsy determined that Miller had likely been killed by the animal after it broke into her home... fatal bear attack on a human. ... people who live...

Yellowstone National Park confirmed an 11-year-old male grizzly was captured and killed Wednesday after repeatedly knocking over bear-resistant dumpsters. Officials say the grizzly had repeatedly sought out human food. ======================================================================= A grizzly bear was captured and killed in Yellowstone National Park this week after becoming too used to human food. It’s the first grizzly to be killed within the boundaries of Yellowstone since 2017. The National Park Service (NPS) announced that the 11-year-old male grizzly had repeatedly sought out human food, turning over several bear-proof dumpsters and bear-resistant trash cans in several different areas of the park between April 3...

DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. — Patrice Miller, 71, lived by herself in a small yellow house beneath towering mountain peaks on the edge of a burbling river in this Sierra County village. She doted on her cats and her exotic orchids, and was known to neighbors for her delicious homemade bread. One fall afternoon, after Miller had failed for several days to make her customary appearance at the town market, a store clerk asked authorities to check on her.A short time later, a sheriff’s deputy found Miller’s lifeless body in her kitchen. Her right leg and left arm had been partially gnawed...

An 89-year-old Florida grandfather appears to have been attacked and killed by a black bear during the early morning hours of May 5th, near Jerome, Florida. Jerome is a rural area on the opposite side of the state from Miami, between the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area and the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, part of the Everglades.The relative of 89-year-old Robert Markel called 911 to report that a bear had killed Markel’s dog as the relative had watched, and that the elderly relative was missing. The call was made about 7 a.m. From fox4news.com:“No, he’s gone completely. His whole...

The Sledge Patrol, by David Howarth, 233 pages, published by Macmillan in 1957. $10 in mass market paperback from Amazon. First editions available as used copies. The Sledge Patrol is a one of those fascinating glimpses of WWII which show the conflict through an unexpected and unusual lens. It is the story of the East Coast of Greenland and how a few men can affect a much larger conflict, in ways of which they are unaware. As a bonus, there is the description of a conflict between a polar bear and a man alone on the ice. The polar bear...

An 88-year-old man and a dog were killed in apparently separate bear attacks near the victim's home in Florida, officials said. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call shortly after 7 a.m. Monday involving a "bear encounter." The attacks occurred "some time apart" on Monday, and the man and the dog were found within a couple of hundred yards of the area, according to FWC spokesperson George Reynaud. His daughter saw a bear attack the dog and then went looking for her father, who is believed to have been attacked earlier on Monday, Reynaud said.

CONNECTICUT — A man from Bethlehem said he was caught in a tough situation that involved self defense and breaking the law.Todd Topicz exclusively told Channel 3 that was woken up in August by his pregnant wife after a bear came within feet of his two children. “He walked right into the garage with people in there. He didn’t care. So, who knows what would’ve happened next time,” Topicz said.He said that the bear entered the home through the garage, where the two kids were at the time.The animal grabbed a few bags before being chased up a tree by...