First of all, it is important to clarify that the following recommendations refer to the encounter or attack of a brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) , since our behavior must adapt to the species of bear that we encounter. It is estimated that in the world there are about 200,000 copies distributed by North America, Asia and Europe. In Spain, for example, although they are of different subspecies, we can find them in western Asturias, north of León, Palencia and south of Cantabria and in the Pyrenees.
That a brown bear attacks a human is extremely remote, in fact, according to the National Park Service of the United States, the chances of being injured by one of them are approximately 1 in 2.1 million, in other words , a bee is more likely to kill us than a bear, according to an article by Nat Geo. In Spain there have been eight documented attacks since 1989, the last this year 2021 in Cangas de Narcea, in Asturias.
As a result of this attack, the Brown Bear Foundation has published a series of recommendations to follow in order to guarantee our safety in the mountains as much as possible. For starters, the best way to avoid being attacked by a bear is by avoiding the encounter. For this reason, it is not advisable to leave the marked trails or enter the closed vegetation or, of course, approach carrion or dedicate ourselves to following the tracks of bears. It is also important to make sure that we do not leave food debris that can attract them.
Now, if despite following these recommendations we come across one of them:
- If we come across a bear on the road, it is advisable to put on the hazard lights to alert other vehicles and slow down or stop until the animal leaves the road. It is totally illegal to chase him with the car.
- If we are walking and it is still far away, but it is advancing towards us, we must make our presence known by speaking without shouting, so that the bear identifies us and moves away. We must not block the bear’s escape routes and we must walk away slowly by walking backwards. You should never run or yell at it.
- An attack on a bear is not the best defense. Stones or sticks should never be thrown to scare them and if you have a firearm you should never shoot into the air, this could result in an aggressive reaction.
- Faced with a female with her young, we will never come between the mother and the cubs.
- If the bear stands up it does not mean that it is having an aggressive attitude, perhaps it is just trying to identify us.
- On the contrary, if the animal makes a deterrent charge, which consists of approaching at full speed and stopping just before reaching us, we must remain calm and move away , always maintaining eye contact.
- If in the worst and most unlikely of cases, the bear attacks us, we must lie face down in a fetal position and protect our face and head with our arms, trying to remain immobile.
References:
Brown Bear Foundation. Bear encounters. https://fundacionosopardo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ficha10.pdf
