That sucks. A friend has been pestering me for a couple of years to do some crazy-long ride on the Continental Crest. Think my appetite for this exploit just took a nosedive. Even on a fast downhill all the advantages are with Mr. Bear.
Yeesh. I spent a day fishing in Glacier years ago. That same griz might have eyed me up, asking itself how hungry it felt. The presence of bears in country like that just adds to the fascination, and they mostly avoid humans. But sometimes that switch in their head flips, they decide humans might be prey after all, and oooh man thatâd be a nasty way to go. If one perceived a mountain biker as fleeing from it, thatâs all it would take.
One suspects that they likely surprised the bear - all too easy on a bike, and regarded with disfavour by the bear. Agree it would be an ugly way to die, and forget the old bromide about âdoing what he lovedâ.
Thatâs it, lets #banthebearsâŚ
(Agree with all posters above â poor guy, horrible way to go. But bears are bears, sharks are sharks, and wolves are wolves. Now somebody has an excuse to go out and shoot oneâŚsheesh.)
Grizzly bear attacks are almost always due to the bear being surprised. They seldom hunt humans. Ninety percent of Black bear attacks, on the other hand, are predator-prey attacks. A large percent even attack through tent walls. Black bear attacks are very rare, of course. Why is this important? Because Black bears attacking humans must be hunted down and killed. Once a Black bear loses its fear of humans, they will repeat the attack. The attack in this article was almost certainly due to surprise, and the bear is of no threat, so should be left alone. Thatâs one of the big reasons people shouldnât feed wildlife. As bad as it sounds, itâs important that animals fear humans.
Like that old saying:
That what doesnât kill you makes you stronger. Except bears. Bears will kill you.
I keep seeing that scene from The Revenant where the character âHugh Glassâ surprises the grizzly sow and her cubs:
https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/the-revenant-bear-gif.gif?w=806
Glacier is a spectacular park and the surroundings are magnificent, but as in any great wild area, and they are shrinking, dangers are there. The clashes between our wild predator populations and humans rarely have a happy outcome and usually it is the animals who lose in a number of ways. This unfortunate fellow and his companion âsurprisedâ the bear and the instinct of the bear was to attack.
I donât remember saying grizzly bears or any other species typically think of humans as prey. You yourself said they âseldomâ do which as I understand the word does not mean never. 
I do think a mountain biker could trigger a chase response. I certainly didnât suggest killing the bear in question. If the authorities believe a particular bear, because of species, circumstances of an attack, probability of bear-human interaction etc. presents the danger of hunting humans in the future, thatâs a serious problem. But letâs not imply that I implied things I didnât. Most of the serious outdoorsy people I know understand and accept that a potential negative encounter with a wild predator is a chance you take. Iâve had some very interesting encounters with curious bears and sharks. Comes with the territory, as they say.
Itâs perfectly clear: we must torture the bear and then carpet-bomb Glacier National Park into smoking oblivion. Only then will we be safe.
We need a Bear Patrol! But we donât want to pay for it!
Only one solution: Gottaâ âGo Trumpâ on the bears in the area:
I think we need to ban all immigration from Bear Countries until we find out whatâs going on.
I drove past Black Bear road kill the other day. First time I ever seen that,it was disturbing. A beautiful animal. Must have weighed over 200 pounds. The car must have been destroyed. I hope it did not have cubs, its the time of year for that.
Nobodyâs vetting them!
Weâre having bear encounters where I live, which is the Philly burbs. Ample forested areas but hasnât been bear habitat since forever. Mostly itâs just people surprised in their backyards at this point but I sure hope it doesnât develop into problems like that. : (
This was in The Green Mountains of Vermont. A lot of of bear,moose,deer. I drive that road a lot. Like most people I love animals. . I hope I never see a site like that again.
The bear was obviously a radical Canadian grizzhadistâ who came in with peaceful Canadian grizzly immigrants.
[quote=âdemyankee, post:4, topic:39919â]
One suspects that they likely surprised the bear - all too easy on a bike, and regarded with disfavour by the bear.
[/quote]Ummm yeahâŚthatâs pretty much what the article just statedâŚ