The death rate is far too high, and far above what it has been in previous years. If white sharks were munching that many surfers off the coast of California, you can be sure there would be a furor in the news media. I have been thinking about the possible reasons why. Of the reported deaths, no less than five were of fishermen. One person was stalked, killed and eaten (in Alberta) in broad daylight in the sort of attack that is normally associated with black bears and polar bears. Such attacks are very rare with grizzlies. (At least in this continent--- I have heard stories of habitual man-eating bears in Siberia. Apparently, a whole group of brown bears in one forest decided "long pig" was the tastiest delicacy, and became quite adept at obtaining it. They made significant inroads into the population of a nearby native village before they were stopped.)
I suspect that several different causes are at work here. I have received reports that in some areas along the Pacific Coast, especially B.C., there are relative excesses in the bear population. This is partly due to severe curtailments of bear hunting in some areas, and in others, bears being driven into limited "reserve" areas by logging activity in the vicinity. When too many bears are crowded into an area to compete for limited resources, they can get very aggressive.
Since in Nature, there is no higher predator to control grizzlies, they control their own numbers through intense intraspecies aggression. The dominant males, as a previous article indicated, are pretty brutal about how they do it. Cub-killing becomes rampant, and many of the mothers get killed too. For humans to blindly barge into such situations (where even grizzlies fear to tread) puts them at great risk. Needless to say, female grizzlies with young are far more dangerous in their touchy defensiveness in such cases too. If humans enter areas where grizzlies are overpopulated and showing a lot of hostile competition, bear-human problems are sure to occur. In short, if you are entering genuinely wild bear country, you should get some advance information. Have there been problems recently? Do the bears seem irritable and defensive? Have humans started invading areas that formerly people kept out of? Are bears returning to areas now frequented by people? Bears REALLY hate surprises, and are at their best when people behave predictably and quietly.
