LARGE ANIMAL ATTACKS - Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities - page 461

one bite or one swipe with a paw, and injuries to an arm are far more survivable than injur-
ies to the head.
One common mistake made by individuals playing dead is getting up too quickly.
People using this protective maneuver must be absolutely certain the bear has left. “Wait
until you're sure he's gone and then wait some more.” When bears return to someone who
has played dead, they often are more aggressive than during the first curious examination.
Bearsprays(peppersprays)havebeenshowntobeeffectiveinstoppingbothbrownand
black bear attacks. Sprays can be used before contact is made or during an attack.
Anyone considering carrying a gun for protection must remember that only a large
caliber round, precisely aimed at an area of the bear's head that is approximately three by
fourinchesinsizeinaminimalamountoftime,wouldbeeffectiveagainstachargingbear.
Wounding the bear makes it angry, and inaccurate use of a handgun results in more serious
injury and death to the human.
Occasionally brown bears make predatory attacks on humans, almost always at night.
When faced with such an attack, the only recourse is to fight back with whatever weapons
areonhand.Fightingbackiseffectivewithsurprisingfrequency,probablybecausethebear
is looking for an easy meal, not one for which it has to fight. Brown bears habituated to
humans and conditioned to eating human food and garbage initiate most predatory attacks
andconsumethebodiesofthosetheyhavekilled,whichsupportsrigoroushumanfoodand
trash management policies in bear territory.
Polar Bears
Humanencounterswithpolarbearsareuncommonbecause,withtheexceptionofafew
towns like Churchill, Manitoba, few humans live in the areas where these bears are found.
The human population of Nunavut, the huge northeastern Canadian territory, is only about
29,500.
Polar bears are among the largest carnivores in the world. They are strong, fast, and
agile—on ice and land and in water.
Descriptions of polar bear behavior range from animals that attack without provoca-
tion—“The polar bear is the most deadly of all. They are known to stalk and hunt hu-
mans.”—to animals that appear to largely ignore humans. However, when attacks on hu-
mans do occur, most are predatory.
Churchill is known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” because scores of bears
gather there to await the freezing of Hudson Bay. The town was established in 1717, and
since that time attacks by polar bears have been infrequent. Only two townspeople have
been killed, despite numerous encounters. The first death occurred in 1968. Native teen-
agersfollowed polarbeartracks throughafreshsnowfall, foundtheanimal, andproceeded
to molest it. The bear attacked and killed one of the teenagers. (This incident has also been
reported as a twelve-year-old who blundered into a den of polar bears.)