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On Monday, August 24th, 2026, an deputy of the Eagle County Sheriffs Department shot and stopped a charging cinnamon color phase black bear near the River Run Apartment Complex. The bear was an adult with two cubs.From the video, it appears the deputy drew and fired the first shot in less than a second, with three followup shots following in fractions of a second after that. The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office released the body camera video on September 8th, 2026The video shows officers dealing with a difficult situation: An adult bear with two cubs and dozens of onlookers, was very...

Around 3 a.m. on Friday, a juvenile black bear reportedly broke into a home in the Sunset Heights neighborhood in Salmon, where Brian and Kim Heidemann, along with Kim’s 14 and 9-year-old daughters were sleeping. ...one of the juvenile bears, estimated at about 1 year old, reportedly tried to break into the home through the 14-year-old daughter’s bedroom window.“(Kim’s) daughter heard noises outside of her bedroom window, and they have a swamp cooler right there,” says Dabell. “Her daughter looked out the window, and at first thought it was a human because apparently when bears grunt, they sound very human-esque.”The...

Handguns have been shown to be extremely effective at stopping bear attacks. This correspondent and colleagues have documented over 200 cases in North America where handguns were fired in defense against bears. Handguns have been effective in about 98% of the cases. One objection to these findings is often stated this way:If a person is killed before the handgun is fired, you will not include the incident in your statistics, because the handgun was not fired. Fair enough. It is a limitation worth exploring.Wikipedia and others maintain a database of all the people who have been recorded as having been...

While researching bear-human conflicts, two additional incidents were found in which Slovaks used handguns to successfully defend themselves against European brown bears (Ursus arctos). Slovakia is one of the Central European countries that has adopted statutes allowing people to legally carry handguns for self-defense and the defense of others. The areas of both attacks are located about 20 km north of Banská Bystrica, in central Slovakia. On March 30, 2024, a young man was searching for mushrooms in a dense forest in the Žilina district, near the village of Stráňavy. He was off the hiking trail when a brown bear...

On Sunday, May 3, 2026, at about 9:30 pm, Anthony Polio was attacked by a mature grizzly bear on the Mt. Brown Lookout trail in Glacier National Park. Polio had time to draw and empty his 7.9-ounce Bear Guard bear spray before he was killed by the bear. The official report on the incident has been released by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) Board of Review. The Board of Review consisted of 10 people: 4 from federal agencies, 1 from Wyoming Game and Fish, and 5 from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. From the official report, p. 10:Claw marks...

Before 1976, it was assumed by wildlife managers that hunting bears made the bear population more cautious of humans and reduced human/bear conflicts. In 1975, the Director of the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the taking of grizzly bears should be of two types.The taking of nuisance bears; andLimited sport hunting to create an adequate fear of man. From the Federal Register, VOL. 40, NO. 145 — Monday, July 28, 1975 p. 31735: “In a seasonal sport hunt, bears are exposed to relatively large numbers of humans for a limited period of time, and so learn to avoid...

Mike Bramich (in camo hat), Dole Heffley, 122nd Legislative district, and Andrew Nierner on the right.By Dean Weingarten | Contributing writerOn Jan. 19, 2025, a black bear became too familiar with people in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, a community located about 20 miles northwest from Allentown.An armed Samaritan with a .45-caliber pistol, Mike Bramich, stopped the attack. It is unusual for people to see black bears out and about in January in Pennsylvania. Most of them are denned up, sleeping through the winter, but on this particular morning, visitors to the Jim Thorpe Market encountered a black bear intent on...

Unbelievable footage of a hulking bear stranded atop a utility pole in New Mexico has gone viral online, leaving viewers gobsmacked by the beast’s unusual resting place. The jaw-dropping video posted on X was reshared by the US Department of the Interior on Wednesday and racked up tens of thousands of views. “We appreciate the enthusiasm for American Energy Dominance, but this isn’t what we meant,” the department joked in its post. The clip — which was verified to be real — shows the panting bear gripping the crossarm of the power line pole with its front paws while letting...

In 2025, Japan broke records for total and fatal bear attacks. There were 230 attacks and 13 fatalities, more than double the previous record of 6 fatalities in one year. Japan collects bear statistics by fiscal year, from April 1 to March 31. 2026 is off to a bad start. Five fatalities have been identified from April 1 to June 30. The previous record was two fatalities during April 1 to June 30. Bear attacks tend to trail off in July and August, and pick up significantly in September, October and November. Bears in Japan start hibernating in December. Another...

A black bear consumed the body of a person whose remains were found by officers in Mesa County, according to the sheriff's office. Investigators with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of potential human remains found near the Wild Rose Picnic Area off of Lands End Road on the Grand Mesa, according to a sheriff's office news release July 9. When investigators arrived, they found the remains scattered and scavenged and determined the deceased had been consumed by a "bear and likely other wildlife." Investigators confirmed the remains were human, prompting a death investigation ... Witnesses who...

A woman unleashed bear spray at a Lower Manhattan hotel Monday while fighting over luggage with another lady she went to a Pride Week event with — leaving eight people needing medical treatment, cops and sources said. The unidentified suspect discharged the mace just after 8 a.m. inside a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton New York Downtown hotel on Stone Street near Whitehall Street, during a spat with a 28-year-old woman, according to police and sources. The two women, who were staying at the hotel, knew each other and had gone to a Pride event together the night before...

Anthony Puglisi, Essex County’s public information director, said that, at around noon the bear entered Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange. When the bear was spotted in the zoo, Puglisi said employees and visitors were directed to shelter in place in buildings on zoo property. “At no time did the bear come in contact with any humans, and everyone was safely evacuated from the zoo with assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office,” Puglisi said. The zoo was closed for the rest of Monday as authorities worked to track the bear. NJ Fish and Wildlife were notified. The...

Lori Price successfully defended herself from a black bear attack in Alaska. Her dog was severely wounded by the bear. Then the bear came after her. She used a 9mm Glock 43 to defend herself. Joe Allgood interviewed her for In Depth Alaska (video link). On Sunday, June 7, 2026, Lori Price was hunting for mushrooms near Skilak Lake. Skilak Lake is south of Highway 1 on the Kenai Peninsula, about 20 miles east of Soldotna, Alaska. She was almost ready to go home. She had two dogs with her, a chocolate lab, Willis and Chaos her German short-hair. The...

More than three weeks after an apparent bear killed a 33-year-old hiker in Glacier National Park, questions continue to linger about what wildlife officials called a “stunningly rare” incident. At the top of the list, wildlife experts are trying to assess what triggered the possible conflict, which could affect what happens to the bear involved, if anything. Anthony Pollio of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was reported missing May 4 after he didn’t return from a hike on the west side of Glacier Park the previous day. Two days later, his remains were discovered about 50 feet off the Mt. Brown Trail...

Japan's Environment Ministry said 13 people were killed in more than 230 bear attacks in 2025, exceeding the number of fatalities and attacks in any preceding year. A bear injured four people in a residential area of Japan on Tuesday in the latest case of an attack by the animals in an area of the country where bears have increasingly encroached on the human population in recent years. Police and fire department officials rushed to the scene in the Sasakino district of Fukushima in northeastern Japan after receiving an emergency call from the Fukushima Steel Works reporting bear attacks on...

The recent fatal bear attack where 33-Year-Old Anthony Pollio was killed by a bear, about May 3, 2026, on the Mount Brown trail in Glacier National Park, is not the first bear attack on the trail. Some online sources are saying an empty can of bear spray was found at the attack site. If so, the attack is another case where bear spray was used in defense against a bear, and people died.There have been at least nine deaths associated with the use of bear spray in defense against a bear. There have not been any recorded deaths when a...

In the continuing study of how effective handguns are when used as a defense against bears, I posted two articles on Ammoland showing the distribution of the number of cases vs the number of shots fired. The first article was for the statistics for all cases, which included brown bears, black bears and polar bears. The second article separated out the statistics for brown bears. Unsurprisingly, ursus arctos (brown bears, grizzly bears and Kodiak bears) showed more shots being fired per case than black bears and polar bears. This article shows the statistics for black bears and polar bears. There...

Sources: books, articles, papers, interviews, FOIA requests In the ongoing study of how effective handguns are when used as a defense against bears, this correspondent posted an article on AmmoLand showing the distribution of the number of shots fired vs the number of cases. The most common case was one shot fired, with the least common cases having the most shots fired. On examining the data, there is a significant difference noted among bear species.In cases involving brown bears, grizzly bears, Kodiak bears, (ursus arctos) more shots are fired per case.There are 109 total handgun-only cases involving Ursus arctos, of...

In the ongoing study of the effectiveness of handguns as a defense against bears, there are over 200 documented cases. Of those, 184 involve only handguns. The others are combination situations where other deadly force was used in addition to handguns. Of the 184 cases, 161 include information about the number of shots fired. In 23 cases, the number of shots is not known.The data is likely skewed by unavoidable selection bias. The data is limited to cases that are documented. There is a strong selection bias against cases that do not involve dramatic outcomes or human injury, or that...

Two U.S. Army soldiers were seriously injured after encountering a brown bear during a training exercise at a military installation in Alaska, officials said Sunday, according to ABC News. The soldiers, assigned to the 11th Airborne Division, were participating in a land navigation training exercise at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson when they encountered the animal, according to an Army statement. Officials said the soldiers were equipped with bear spray and deployed it during the encounter. Few additional details about how the incident unfolded were immediately released