Fatal bear attacks in North America have occurred in a variety of settings. There have been several in wilderness habitats of bears involving hikers, hunters, and campers. Brown bear (including the subspecies grizzly bear) incidents have occurred in its native range spanning Alaska, Northern Canada, and Western Canada, and portions of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The locations of black bear wilderness fatal attacks reflect its wider range.
| Name, age, sex | Date | Style= | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| John Woods, 60, male | | Wild | Shamattawa First Nation, Manitoba | The 60-year-old who went missing in a northeastern Manitoba First Nation, Canada, is believed to have been killed by a bear, RCMP say, a week after police responded to a bear attack that left another person in the area injured. It is so far undetermined if the attack was initiated by a black or a brown bear, or even a polar bear, as the latter has been seen in this area before, and descend into land every July when the Hudson Bay ice breaks up.[7] [8] |
| Patrice Miller, 71, female | | Wild | Downieville, California | Sheriff's deputies found Miller's remains during a welfare check. There were signs that a bear had entered the house and mauled the body, but initially, the Sierra County Sheriff's Office thought this had happened after Miller's death. However, an autopsy confirmed the bear had killed Miller. The male bear was trapped and killed, and DNA testing confirmed it was the bear responsible. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Miller's death is the first confirmed fatal attack by a black bear in California.[9] [10] [11] |
| Steven Jackson, 66, male | | Wild | Groom Creek, Arizona | The victim was sitting in a chair outside of his campsite when an adult male black bear attacked him. The bear dragged him about 75 yards and began consuming him. Neighbors heard his screams for help amid the struggle and tried to scare the bear away by yelling and honking horns, but to no avail. One neighbor eventually grabbed a rifle and shot the bear, killing it, but Jackson was already dead. The bear was 365 lbs, estimated at 7 to 10 years old, and was in good condition with no signs of disease. Officials ultimately determined that the bear acted in an unprovoked predatory attack.[12] [13] |
| Unnamed female, 26 | | Wild | Swan Hills, Alberta | The victim worked for a helicopter company, which provided transportation for tree planters, when she was attacked by an adult female black bear. The woman was killed as result of the attack. The bear was tracked and killed by authorities.[14] |
| Laney Malavolta, 39, female | | Wild | Durango, Colorado | Malavolta was attacked and killed while hiking with her dogs in the forest above and to the west of US 550, near Trimble. Her body showed signs of partial consumption. Authorities euthanized a mother black bear and two cubs found nearby. After an autopsy, it was determined that the mother bear and one of her cubs had fed upon Malavolta.[15] |
| Patrick Madura, 43, male | | Wild | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | Madura was backpacking in the park. His remains were found on September 11, 2020, near the remote Hazel Creek area where he had been camping. Backpackers first found an unoccupied tent at Hazel Creek Campsite 82, then discovered what appeared to be human remains across the creek with a bear scavenging in the area and alerted park rangers. An autopsy concluded that Madura had been killed by the bear.[16] |
| Stephanie Blais, 44, female | | Wild | Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan | Blais was communicating with her father from a satellite phone while camping with her two children and husband at a family cabin on McKie Lake when the bear attacked her. Her husband, Curtis, was inside the cabin's kitchen 30m (100feet) away. The investigation showed the attack was unprovoked and predatory in nature. Curtis subsequently sprayed the bear with pepper spray, but this only aggravated the animal. He grabbed a gun and shot it twice, killing the bear.[17] [18] |
| Peter Franczak, 67, male | | Wild | Red Lake, Ontario | Franczak went blueberry picking in the morning and did not return. Officers of the Ontario Provincial Police went to search for him and found his remains along with a black bear in the vicinity. Postmortem examination later attributed Franczak's death to be a bear attack. The bear was killed by police when they arrived at the scene.[19] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
Doug Inglis, 62, male
Jenny Gusse, 62, female[20] | September 29, 2023 | Wild | Red Deer River Valley, Banff National Park, Alberta | A response team trained in wildlife attacks were mobilized, after receiving an alert from an inReach GPS device at about 8 p.m. on September 29, 2023, but weather conditions at the time did not allow for helicopter use, leading the team to travel to the location by ground through the night. The response team arrived at 1 a.m. on September 30 and found two deceased individuals and their dog (Tress), also killed. A grizzly bear displaying aggressive behavior was encountered and euthanized at the site.[21] [22] |
| Amie Adamson, 48,[23] female | July 21, 2023 | Wild | West Yellowstone, Montana | Adamson's body was discovered on morning of July 22 by a hiker on the Buttermilk Trail, located about eight miles west of the gateway community of West Yellowstone, Montana. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) said July 23 that grizzly bear tracks were found at the scene and that the investigation is ongoing, while the coroner's office quickly determined that she died of severe blood loss due to a mauling.[24]
The grizzly bear was later killed by wildlife staff after it broke into a home near West Yellowstone on September 2, 2023, accompanied with a cub. The officials communicated that the same bear had also injured a person near an Idaho state park back in 2020.[25] |
| Seth Michael Plant, 30, male | May 10, 2022 | Wild | Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska | A group of soldiers were attacked by a sow while mapping out a training site for a land navigation course. Their presence prompted the bear to emerge from its den and knock down two of the soldiers; one later died.[26] |
| Craig Clouatre, 40, male | March 25, 2022 | Wild | Six Mile Creek, Park County, Montana | Clouatre's maimed body was discovered on March 25.[27] |
| Leah Davis Lokan, 65, female | July 6, 2021 | Wild | Ovando, Montana | Lokan was attacked and killed in her tent near her campsite in Powell County by a grizzly bear. The bear had wandered into the campsite multiple times before the attack. The grizzly bear was later identified and killed by wildlife officials.[28] [29] [30] |
| Barbara Collister, female, 68 | May 25, 2021 | Wild | Water Valley, Alberta | Collister was attacked and killed by a bear while walking on trails on her private property. An aggressive grizzly sow and a cub were observed shortly afterwards by wildlife officers nearby. A mature non-lactating female grizzly bear with worn teeth was then captured and euthanized, with DNA testing confirming this was the responsible bear. This attack occurred about 24 kilometres away from the May 4, 2021, attack that killed David Lertzman, but the DNA testing confirmed that different bears were involved.[31] [32] [33] |
| David Lertzman, 59, male | May 4, 2021 | Wild | Waiparous, Alberta | Lertzman was attacked and killed by a bear, determined to be a female brown bear, while out jogging. The bear is suspected to have attacked Lertzman from behind, sending him off a 300m embankment.[34] [35] [36] |
| Charles "Carl" Mock, 40, male | April 17, 2021 | Wild | West Yellowstone, Montana | Wilderness guide Charles "Carl" Mock, 40, was attacked on Thursday, April 15, 2021, while fishing north of West Yellowstone near Baker's Hold Campground. He was mauled by a 20-year-old male grizzly bear likely defending a moose carcass near Yellowstone National Park and died in a hospital on April 17. The offending bear was shot and killed by wildlife authorities after it charged them.[37] |
| Austin Pfeiffer, 22, male | September 20, 2020 | Wild | Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska | Pfeiffer was on a 10-day moose hunt with a friend near the Chisana River Drainage. He was cleaning a moose they had killed when the bear attacked without warning. Pfeiffer was killed by the bear.[38] [39] |
| Daniel Schilling, 46, male | July 29, 2020 | Wild | Hope, Alaska | Schilling was killed while clearing a path several miles behind his cabin. An empty can of bear spray was found at the scene. There were no witnesses to the attack.[40] [41] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | Style= | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Catherine Sweatt-Mueller, 62, female | September 1, 2019 | Wild | Red Pine Island, Ontario | Sweatt-Mueller left her cabin on an island on Rainy Lake, Ontario, to check on her dogs and did not return. Police sent to find her encountered a large black bear near her body. The bear, which was behaving in a predatory manner, was killed on the spot.[45] [46] |
| Erin Johnson, 27, female | June 19, 2017 | Wild | Pogo mine, Alaska | Johnson, a contract employee for Pogo Mine, was killed while collecting soil samples. The bear was shot and killed by mine personnel.[47] [48] |
| Patrick Cooper, 16, male | June 18, 2017 | Wild | Indian, Alaska | Cooper was chased and killed by a bear while participating in and completing the juniors' division of the Bird Ridge trail's running race. Cooper called his brother[49] as he descended the trail, to say he was being followed by a bear. Searchers found the runner's remains 500 yards (457 m) from the trail and shot the bear in the face with a shotgun, which scared the bear and forced him into the woods away from the body.[50] |
| Barbara Paschke, 85, female | September 27, 2015 | Wild | west of Kalispell, Montana | Paschke was attacked inside her home near Kalispell by a black bear. According to Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Paschke regularly illegally provided grain and birdseed to bears on her property, and had been cited for illegally feeding bears and other wildlife in 2012. Paschke died of her injuries on October 1, 2015, in a Kalispell hospital. Officials trapped and killed two food-conditioned black bears on Paschke's property, but were unable to capture or remove the bear that attacked Paschke. DNA identified one of the euthanized bears as a sibling of the bear involved in the fatal attack.[51] [52] |
| Daniel Ward O'Connor, 27, male | May 10, 2015 | Wild | near Mackenzie, British Columbia | Ward was killed and eaten by a bear while he slept near the fire pit at his campsite. His fiancée who slept in a nearby motorhome discovered his remains the following morning. The bear was later shot and killed by conservation officers.[53] [54] |
| Darsh Patel, 22, male | September 21, 2014 | Wild | | Darsh Patel was about to begin hiking with four friends in Apshawa Preserve when they met a man and a woman at the entrance who told them there was a bear nearby and advised them to turn around.[55] They continued on, found the bear, and Patel and another hiker took photos. They turned and began walking away, but the bear followed them. The hikers ran in different directions, and found that Patel was missing when they regrouped. Authorities found Patel's body after searching for two hours. A black bear found in the vicinity was killed and a necropsy revealed human remains in its digestive tract.[56] According to the State Department of Environmental Protection, this was the first fatal bear attack on a human in New Jersey on record.[57] |
| Lorna Weafer, 36, female | May 7, 2014 | Wild | | Weafer, a Suncor worker was attacked at the remote North Steepbank oil sands mine site while walking back to work after a trip to the washroom. Efforts by co-workers to scare off the bear were unsuccessful. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police shot and killed the bear upon arrival. A preliminary investigation determined that the attack was predatory.[58] |
| Robert Weaver, 64, male | June 6, 2013 | Wild | near Delta Junction, Alaska | Weaver was attacked by a black bear while walking back to his cabin on George Lake, according to his wife, who was able to flee inside the cabin and was uninjured. A 2301NaN1 adult male black bear on the scene was killed by troopers and found to have some of Weaver's remains in his stomach.[59] |
| Lana Hollingsworth, 61, female | July 25, 2011 | Wild | Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona | Hollingsworth was attacked by a 2501NaN1 black bear while walking her dog at a country club. Nearly a month later and after eleven surgeries, she died from a massive brain hemorrhage, which doctors believe was a result of the attack. The bear was tracked, shot, and killed.[60] |
| Bernice Adolph, 72, female | June 2011 | Wild | near Lillooet, British Columbia | Adolph's remains were found by police dogs after she was reported missing. She was an elder in the Xaxli'p First Nation. There was evidence that bears fed on Adolph's remains, and tried to enter her house. An autopsy confirmed that she died from a bear attack. Five bears suspected of being involved were killed by conservation officers, and DNA tests confirmed that one of the dead bears killed Adolph.[61] |
| Brent Kandra, 24, male | August 19, 2010 | Captive | | Kandra was a bear caretaker on the property of Sam Mazzola, who kept exotic pets. The bear was out of its cage for feeding. Prior to the attack, Sam Mazzola had had his license to exhibit animals revoked, but he was still allowed to keep the animals on his property.[62] He also accumulated dozens of dangerous, exotic animals despite past convictions and losing his license after animal rights activists complained he was making money by letting people wrestle bears. | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Julien Gauthier, 44, male | | Wild | Tulita, Northwest Territories | The French composer and soundman was travelling along the Mackenzie River to record sounds of nature for a musical project. When he was asleep in his tent, he was grabbed by a grizzly and taken away and eaten by the bear. His corpse was found the next day.[63] [64] |
Valérie Théorêt, 37, female
Adele Roesholt, 10 months, female | | Wild | Einarson Lake, Yukon | The mother and child were attacked near their cabin while on a trip to manage trapping lines. The child's father Gjermund Roesholt shot the bear dead when he returned to the cabin and it charged him.[65] |
| Anthony David Montoya, 18, male | | Wild | | Montoya was working at a remote mining site on Admiralty Island, Alaska, when he was killed and eaten by a sow brown bear and two cubs. All three bears were killed.[66] |
| Mark Uptain, 37, male | | Wild | | Uptain, a guide for Martin Outfitters, was cleaning an elk that he and his client Corey Chubon had shot when the bear attacked. The bear was a sow with a 1½-year-old male cub.[67] The hunter and his guide were dressing an elk carcass and had left a canister of bear spray and a Glock 20 pistol out of reach. As the bear attacked, Chubon, unfamiliar with the operation of a Glock pistol, was unable to fire and attempted to throw it at Uptain who failed to catch it. The bear turned on Uptain. Chubon fled with injuries as the bear attacked Uptain. After staggering 50 yards (46 m) uphill from the dead elk, Uptain was killed by the mother and possibly by the cub as well. The bears were shot and killed by Wyoming Fish and Game officials.[68] |
| Mike Soltis, 44, male | | Wild | | Soltis was day hiking alone along the Eagle River. After failing to return, a search party was dispatched. Rangers found a grizzly bear sitting on Soltis's remains. The bear then attacked the search party, badly mauling one searcher. The search party retreated from the area. The bear escaped before more searchers arrived.[69] [70] |
| Brad Treat, 38, male | | Wild | | Treat and another man were on mountain bikes on U.S. Forest Service land near Halfmoon Lakes. According to the official Board of Review report on the incident, Treat's mountain bike collided at high speed with a large male grizzly bear "after rounding a blind curve in the trail." The bear immediately attacked Treat in response to being struck by the bicycle. The second rider escaped uninjured and summoned help. The bear was identified via DNA from a previous research project, but was not captured or killed because its behavior was a natural response to a surprise encounter involving physical contact.[71] |
| Lance Crosby, 63, male | | Wild | Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming | Crosby, an employee at a medical clinic in the park, was reported missing when he did not report for work. A park ranger found his body in a popular off-trail area less than a mile (1 600 m) from Elephant Back Loop Trail, an area he was known to frequent. His body was partially consumed and covered. Puncture wounds on his arms indicated he had tried to defend himself. Based on the presence of a sow grizzly and a cub in the area, the sow was deemed responsible for the attack. The sow was captured and killed after it was found to be the bear that killed Crosby.[72] [73] There were public appeals to not kill the sow, but the park superintendent decided there was a risk the sow might kill again; based on July 6, 2011, and August 24, 2011, killings in the park, where another sow was present at both those killings.[74] |
| Claudia Huber, 42, female | | Wild | near Teslin, Yukon | A 25-year-old healthy male grizzly bear broke into a home and chased the victim and her husband outside. The bear pursued and fatally attacked Ms. Huber. Her husband, Matthias Liniger, shot at the bear and killed it.[75] |
| Ken Novotny, 53, male | | Wild | near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories | While on a hunting trip near Norman Wells, Novotny was charged and struck by a bear. Friends reported Novotny had just killed a moose and was processing the carcass when the bear "came out of nowhere." He died on the scene. Authorities later found and killed the bear responsible for his death.[76] |
| Rick Cross, 54, male | | Wild | Kananaskis Country, Alberta | Cross, a hunter, was killed by a mother bear when he accidentally got between her and her cubs. Park rangers stated that it appeared that Cross managed to fire his rifle before being overwhelmed. RCMP said it appeared he wandered into the area where the mother and cub were feeding on a dead deer.[77] |
| Adam Thomas Stewart, 31, male | | Wild | Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming | Stewart was conducting research alone in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in northwest Wyoming near the SE corner of Yellowstone National Park. This is high density bear habitat and he was in Cub Creek. After he failed to return, a search found his body.[78] The coroner suspects it was a grizzly bear, but the species hasn't officially been determined. The pathologist noted premortem punctures to Stewart's skull, indicating the cause of death was from a bear attack. The FWS report says he was not carrying bear spray or a firearm.[79] |
| Richard White, 49, male | | Wild | Denali National Park, Alaska | White was backpacking alone along the Toklat River. After hikers found an abandoned backpack and torn clothing, rangers investigated and found a male grizzly bear sitting on White's remains. The bear was shot and killed by an Alaska State Trooper. A necropsy of the bear and photographs recovered from White's camera confirmed the attack.[80] The photographs in White's camera showed that he was taking photos of the bear in a span of eight minutes from to .[81] It was the first fatal bear attack recorded in Denali National Park.
|
| Tomas Puerta, 54, male | | Wild | Chichagof Island, Alaska | After passers-by spotted an unattended skiff, they investigated and encountered a grizzly bear sow and two cubs. Alaska State troopers and Sitka Mountain rescue personnel then found evidence of a campsite and fire on the beach. There was evidence of a struggle, and upon following a trail of disturbed vegetation, they found Puerta's body, cached and partially eaten.[82] |
| John Wallace, 59, male | | Wild | | Wallace's remains were found by hikers on the Mary Mountain Trail, northeast of Old Faithful.[83] Wallace was hiking alone.[84] An autopsy showed that Wallace died from a bear attack. According to a report released by Yellowstone rangers, park officials had attempted to give Wallace a lecture about bear safety, but he was not interested, calling himself a "grizzly bear expert".[85] DNA evidence later determined that the same sow that killed Brian Matayoshi July 6, 2011, was in the vicinity of Wallace's corpse, though it was not proved that this bear killed Wallace. The bear was killed by park officials. Evidence showed that Wallace was attacked after sitting down on a log to eat a snack and the attack was predatory, rather than defensive.[86]
|
| Brian Matayoshi, 57, male | | Wild | | Matayoshi and his wife were hiking the Wapiti Lake Trail, and came upon a mother grizzly bear in an open meadow. The couple began to walk away, and the bear charged. After attempting to run away, Matayoshi was fatally bitten and clawed. Matayoshi's wife hid behind a tree, was lifted from the ground by the bear, and dropped. She played dead, and the bear left the area. She was not injured.[87] [88] An initial investigation by the National Park Service found the bear's actions were defensive against a perceived threat to her cubs. Since the attack was not predatory and the bear had no known violent history towards humans, no immediate action was taken towards the bear, the bear was later killed after it was found to be at the site of another fatal attack August 24, 2011. A later investigation determined that the couple's running from the bear was a mistake, and the fatal attack was a "one in 3 million occurrence".[89]
|
| Kevin Kammer, 48, male | | Wild | | Kammer was in his tent at Soda Butte Campground when a mother bear attacked and dragged him away. Two other campers in separate campsites were also attacked: a man was bitten in the leg, and a woman was bitten in the arm and upper body.[90] The bear was caught in a trap set at the campground using pieces of a culvert and Kammer's tent.[91] Later, the bear was killed, and her cubs were sent to ZooMontana.[92] The mother bear's unusual predatory behavior was noted by authorities. |
| Erwin Frank Evert, 70, male | | Wild | Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming | Evert, a field botanist, was mauled by a grizzly bear while hiking in the Kitty Creek Drainage area of the Shoshone National Forest, just east of Yellowstone National Park. The bear was trapped and tranquilized earlier in the day by a grizzly bear research team. Two days after the attack, the bear was shot and killed from a helicopter by wildlife officials.[93] Initially it was reported that Evert ignored posted warnings to avoid the area due to the potential danger involved with the bear research. However, the sheriff's deputy who recovered the body and members of Evert's family stated that the warning signs were no longer present.[94] A report released the following month confirmed that the warning signs were removed, though it also asserted that Evert knew there was a bear research study being conducted in the area.[95] Evert's wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government, which was dismissed by district court judge Nancy D. Freudenthal.[96] [97]
| |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Kelly Ann Walz, 37, female | | Captive | | Walz, whose husband had an expired license to keep exotic animals, was attacked while cleaning her pet bear's cage. She tried to distract the bear by throwing dog food to the opposite end of the cage. A neighbor shot and killed the bear.[102] |
| Donna Munson, 74, female | | Wild | | Munson had been feeding bears for a decade, and was repeatedly warned by wildlife officials. After a bear was injured in a fight with an older and bigger bear, Munson left food out to help the injured bear. The older bear came back to Munson's property, forced its way past a wire fence, and mauled Munson. Later, wildlife officials killed two bears on Munson's property. One of the bears had a necropsy which revealed evidence that it consumed Munson.[103] [104] |
| Cécile Lavoie, 70, female | | Wild | near La Sarre, Quebec | After Lavoie did not return to her cabin following a solo fishing outing, her husband went looking for her. He found a bear dragging her body into the woods.[105] |
| Robin Kochorek, 31, female | | Wild | Panorama Mountain Resort, British Columbia | Kochorek was reported missing after mountain biking. A black bear was found near her corpse the morning after her disappearance. The bear was shot on sight by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).[106] |
| Samuel Evan Ives, 11, male | | Wild | Uinta National Forest, Utah | Ives was grabbed from a family tent in American Fork Canyon, and mauled. State wildlife officials killed the bear, which had entered the campsite the night before.[107] Ives' family sued the U.S. Forest Service because there was no warning about the bear's presence.[108] [109] A judge awarded the family $1.95 million.[110] It was the first known fatal black bear attack in Utah. |
| Elora Petrasek, 6, female | | Wild | Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee | A bear attacked the family at a waterfall near a campground. Petrasek's mother and brother were also injured. The bear was trapped and killed, and an unrelated bear was mistakenly killed.[111] [112] [113] |
| Jacqueline Perry, 30, female | | Wild | Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park, Ontario | Perry was killed in an attack at a remote campsite.[114] Her husband was seriously injured trying to protect her with a Swiss Army knife, and later was given a Star of Courage award from Governor General Michaëlle Jean.[115] Ministry of Natural Resources staff shot and killed the bear near the area where the fatal attack occurred.[116] The attack was dramatized in the 2014 Canadian film Backcountry by director Adam MacDonald. |
| Harvey Robinson, 69, male | | Wild | | Robinson was fatally mauled while picking plums north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Robinson's family were investigating the area with an RCMP officer later that day, and were also attacked. The officer shot and killed the bear.[117] |
| Merlyn Carter, 71, male | | Wild | Nonacho Lake, Northwest Territories | Carter was found dead behind the main cabin of his fishing camp. Carter's son came to the cabin the day after the attack, and shot and killed the bear. Later, the Hay River Airport was named in his honor.[118] |
| Maurice Malenfant, 77, male | | Wild | | Malenfant was attacked in his campsite in the Gaspé region of Quebec.[119] [120] |
| Christopher Bayduza, 31, male | | Wild | | After going for a walk behind a trailer, Bayduza was attacked at a remote oil rigging site in northeastern British Columbia.[121] [122] |
| Esther Schwimmer, 5 months, female | | Wild | | A bear knocked Schwimmer from her stroller, which was near the porch of her family's vacation home. The bear carried the infant in its mouth to the woods. Schwimmer died of neck and head injuries.[123] |
| Adelia Maestras Trujillo, 93, female | | Wild | | A bear broke through a glass pane to gain entry into Trujillo's house and killed her. Trujillo's body was found in her kitchen. The bear was shot 0.5miles from the house.[124] |
| Kyle Harry, 18, male | | Wild | near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories | Harry was attacked while with one other teenager at a rural campsite east of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, Canada.[125] |
| Mary Beth Miller, 24, female | | Wild | near Valcartier, Quebec | Miller was attacked while on a biathlon training run in a wooded area on a military base. The bear was trapped and killed four days later.[126] |
| Glenda Ann Bradley, 50, female | | Wild | Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee | Bradley was attacked and partially consumed by a mother bear and a cub, 1.5miles upstream from Elkmont, Tennessee. It was the first fatal bear attack in a southeastern U.S. National Park. While hovering over Bradley's corpse, the bears were shot and killed by park rangers.[127] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Robert Wagner, 48, male | | Wild | | Wagner was reported missing after not returning from a hunting trip. His body was found less than 1km (01miles) from his parked truck. An autopsy revealed that he had been killed by a grizzly bear, which was shot by wildlife officers.[128] [129] |
| Stephan Miller, 39, male | | Captive | | Rocky, a bear trained to perform in movies turned on its handler, fatally biting him in the neck. Prior to the attack, the bear was featured in the movie Semi-Pro. Pepper spray was used to subdue the bear.[130] [131] |
| Don Peters, 51, male | | Wild | | Peters' body was found from his parked truck. He was on a hunting trip. An autopsy confirmed that he died due to a grizzly bear attack. The bear that attacked Peters was captured and killed the following April.[132] [133] |
| Jean-François Pagé, 28, male | | Wild | | Pagé was mauled while staking mineral claims. He unknowingly walked right past a bear den containing a sow and two cubs.[134] |
| Arthur Louie, 60, male | | Wild | near Bowron River, British Columbia | A female and two cubs attacked Louie on a remote forestry road. He was walking back to his gold mining camp after his car broke down.[135] [136] |
Rich Huffman, 61, male
Kathy Huffman, 58, female | | Wild | Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska | The Huffmans were attacked while in their tent at a campsite along the Hulahula River 12miles upriver from Kaktovik.[137] Two days later the campsite was discovered by three rafters while the bear was still nearby. The bear chased the rafters down the river for over half a mile (800 m) until it finally gave up. Later, a North Slope Borough Police officer investigating the scene shot and killed the bear at the campsite.[138] |
| Isabelle Dubé, 35, female | | Wild | | Dubé was killed while jogging with two friends on the Bench Trail. After an initial attack, Dubé climbed a tree while her friends sought help. The bear brought Dubé down from the tree and mauled her.[139] [140] Fish and wildlife officers shot and killed the bear. At the time of the attack, the trail was closed, and the public had been told to avoid it.[141] A few days earlier, the bear had been relocated from Canmore to Banff National Park.
|
Timothy Treadwell, 46, male
Amie Huguenard, 37, female | | Wild | | Treadwell and Huguenard's corpses were found by their pilot at Kaflia Bay. Treadwell was famous for his books and documentaries on living with wild bears in Alaska. State Troopers investigating the incident recovered an audiotape of the attack. The two were killed on the last night before their scheduled pickup after spending several months in the Alaskan bush.[142] The attack is chronicled in the 2005 American documentary film Grizzly Man by German director Werner Herzog. |
| Timothy Hilston, 50, male | | Wild | near Ovando, Montana | Hilston was attacked as he field dressed an elk in Western Montana.[143] A female bear and her cubs suspected in the attack were killed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials.[144] Hilston's widow sued federal and state agencies for negligence, and the lawsuits were dismissed by District Court judge Donald W. Molloy.[145] |
| George Tullos, 41, male | | Wild | | Tullos' partially consumed body was found at a campground near the Canada–US border in Southeast Alaska. The bear was shot and killed.[146] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
Raymond Kitchen, 56, male
Patti McConnell, 37, female | | Wild | Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, British Columbia | McConnell died from injuries while defending herself and her 13-year-old son Kelly from a black bear attack on a boardwalk to the hot springs. Kitchen heard the attack in progress, and was killed while attempting to rescue. Kelly and a 20-year-old man were also injured. The bear was shot while standing over the victims.[147] McConnell's son received a Star of Courage for his attempt to save his mother. Kitchen also received the honor, posthumously.[148]
|
| Sevend Satre, 53, male | | Wild | | Satre was killed while checking fence lines near the central British Columbia community of Tatlayoko Lake, British Columbia. Investigation showed that the bear, a healthy male, had stalked Satre and his horse, for over 0.52NaN2 before attacking.[149] [150] |
| Ian Dunbar, 4, male | | Wild | 70 Mile House, British Columbia | Dunbar was attacked in the back yard of his home. The bear was later killed by conservation officers.[151] |
| Colin McClelland, 24, male | | Wild | Fremont County, Colorado | A bear tore open the door to McClelland's trailer and attacked him at Waugh Mountain, Colorado. The bear was later killed by game wardens. |
| Darcy Staver, 33, female | | Wild | | The bear entered her cabin and Staver and her husband fled to the roof. While Staver's husband went for help, the bear killed her. The bear was shot and killed by a neighbor.[152] [153] |
| Sébastien Lauzier, 20, male | | Wild | | Lauzier was attacked while taking soil samples. Lauzier's partner, Rod Barber, was able to drive off the bear with a pole and was not hurt. The incident occurred about 92 km (57 miles) northeast of Cochrane, just west of the Quebec border.[154] |
Raymond Jakubauskas, 32, male
Carola Frehe, 48, female | | Wild | Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario | While they were setting up camp on Bates Island, a black bear broke both of their necks. The bear then dragged their bodies into the woods and consumed the remains. When police arrived five days later, the bear was guarding the bodies. A park naturalist called the attack "right off the scale of normal bear behavior".[155] [156] |
| James Waddell, 12, male | | Wild | Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta | In the Marten River Campground, Waddel was dragged from a tent during the night and killed.[157] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Ned Rasmussen, 53, male | | Wild | | After Rasmussen disappeared on a deer hunting trip, he was found dead.[158] |
| Ken Cates, 53, male | | Wild | Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska | Cates was killed while hiking near Soldotna, Alaska in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Troopers found Cates' rifle, spent shell casings, and blood nearby which suggested that Cates may have shot the bear.[159] [160] |
| George Evanoff, 65, male | | Wild | | Evanoff was hiking on the Bearpaw Ridge, 72km (45miles) northeast of Prince George, British Columbia. He encountered a grizzly feeding on a moose kill about a half-mile (800 m) from his cabin. He was bitten on the neck, but his body was not mauled or eaten by the bear.[161] [162] |
| Christopher Kress, 40, male | | Wild | | Kress was killed by a grizzly bear while fishing on the South Castle River, near the Beaver Mines campground in Alberta.[163] [164] |
| Craig Dahl, 26, male | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | Dahl's partially consumed remains were found three days after he set off to hike alone in the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park. He was attacked by a mother and her two cubs.[165] |
| Audelio Luis Cortes, 40, male | | Wild | | Cortes was killed immediately after being bitten in the head while laying seismic line in the Swanson River area. His crew walked past the bear's den.[166] [167] |
| Robert Bell, 33, male | | Wild | Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska | Bell was killed while hiking with a friend near the Kugrak river. They startled a mother bear feeding on salmon.[168] |
| Christine Courtney, 32, female | | Wild | Kluane National Park, Yukon | Courtney was killed while hiking on the Slim's Valley trail in Kluane National Park. Her husband was also attacked but survived. Park wardens killed the bear.[169] |
Shane Fumerton, 32, male
Bill Caspell, 40, male | | Wild | | Fumerton and Caspell were killed while securing an elk in the vicinity of Mount Soderhome, in the Southern Rocky Mountain Trench in southeastern British Columbia.[170] [171] |
Marcie Trent, 77, female
Larry Waldron, 45, male | | Wild | | Trent and her son Waldron were killed by a bear defending a moose carcass while they were hiking on the McHugh Creek Trail in Chugach State Park, near Anchorage, Alaska.[172] |
| John Petranyi, 40, male | | Wild | | Petranyi was killed by a mother with two cubs on the Loop Trail, near the Granite Park Chalet.[173] |
| Trevor Percy-Lancaster, 40, male | | Wild | | Percy-Lancaster and his wife were setting up camp in an isolated area of the Tonquin Valley. They surprised a bear, and began running away. The bear initially caught Percy-Lancaster's wife, and then he distracted the bear, which turned on him.[174] [175] |
| Anton Bear, 6, male | | Wild | | The six-year-old, his mother, and sister were walking down a road when they were approached by a grizzly that had just been feeding at the town dump. The family fled, but the boy was chased down by the bear and killed. The bear devoured most of the victim before villagers could kill the animal.[176] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Gordon Ray, 24, male | | Wild | | Ray was killed while on a tree planting project approximately south of Fort Nelson. He climbed a tree to avoid the bear, but fell, and was attacked. The bear was later shot by a helicopter pilot.[180] |
| Daniel Anderson, 12, male | | Wild | | Anderson was grabbed from his tent while camping. His body was found from the tent.[181] |
| Melvin Rudd, 55, male | | Wild | near Nipawin Provincial Park, Saskatchewan | Rudd was killed while fishing in central Saskatchewan.[182] |
| Clifford David Starblanket, 26, male | | Wild | | Starblanket, a trapper living in the forest, suffered an attack to his throat and head.[183] |
Lee Randal Morris, 44, male
Carol Marshall, 24, female | | Wild | near Zama City, Alberta | Morris and Marshall were killed by the same bear in separate attacks over a span of two hours. They were working at a remote oil drilling camp.[184] |
| Allan Russell Baines, 10, male | | Wild | near Granisle, British Columbia | Baines was killed on a fishing trip with two friends.[185] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Harley Seivenpiper, 40, male | | Wild | Port Alexander, Alaska | Seivenpiper was killed while hunting alone. The bear dragged Seivenpiper's body almost 1miles uphill to a cache. When searchers approached the cache, the bear charged, and was shot and killed.[186] [187] |
| Gary Goeden, 29, male | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | Goeden's partially consumed remains were found at Natahki Lake, Many Glacier Valley, Glacier National Park. He was on a solo hike, and off-trail.[188] |
| Charles Gibbs, 40, male | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | Gibbs was last seen alive following and photographing a bear with cubs at Elk Mountain in Glacier National Park. Investigators recovered film of the female approaching in attack mode at .[189] [190] |
| William Tesinsky, 38, male | | Wild | Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming | Tesinkey, a photographer, was mauled after approaching a bear in the Otter Creek area of Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park. The bear was killed.[191] [192] |
| Brigitta Fredenhagen, 25, female | | Wild | Yellowstone National Park | Fredenhagen was dragged from her tent during the night and killed at a backcountry campsite at the southern end of White Lake in Yellowstone National Park.[193] [194] |
| Roger May, 23, male | | Wild | Gallatin National Forest, Montana | May was dragged from his tent, and eaten at the Rainbow Point campground, northwest of Yellowstone National Park. The bear was captured and killed with an injection of poison.[195] [196] |
| Laurence Gordon, 33, male | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | Gordon was killed at the Elizabeth Lake campsite in the Belly River Valley, Glacier National Park.[197] [198] |
| Ernest Cohoe, 38, male | | Wild | | While fishing with a friend just north of Banff, Alberta, a bear charged and bit off part of Cohoe's face. He died a week later as a result of the injuries.[199] [200] |
Jane Ammerman, 19, female
Kim Eberly, 19, male | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | The partially consumed bodies of Ammerman and Eberly were found near their campsite at Divide Creek in the St. Mary Valley. The bear was later killed by hunters from nearby Blackfeet Nation.[201] [202] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Lynn Orser, 30, female | | Captive | King, Ontario | A bear trained to wrestle humans entered the home of its owner, professional wrestler Dave McKigney, and attacked and killed McKigney's friend, Orser, in her bedroom.[206] |
George Halfkenny, 16, male
Mark Halfkenny, 12, male
Billy Rhindress, 15, male | | Wild | Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario | The three boys were stalked and killed while fishing near Radiant Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park. This was the first fatal bear attack in the park in eighty years.[207] |
| Mary Ann Johns, 1, female | | Captive | | While carnival workers were setting up, a bear was taken out of its cage and chained to a tree. Johns, whose parents were carnival workers, walked by and was attacked. The bear had previously attacked children.[208] |
| Victoria Valdez, 4, female | | Wild | | Valdez was mauled while playing near her home. Her body was found from her home. Her father shot and killed a bear before finding his daughter's body.[209] |
| John Richardson, 31, male | | Wild | near Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado | Richardson was attacked while camping on private property, just west of Rocky Mountain National Park, and north of Grand Lake. The bear was later killed by a professional hunter. This was the first fatal black bear attack in Colorado in modern times.[210] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Monty Adams, 32, male | | Wild | near Pincher Creek, Alberta | While hunting alone for sheep west of Pincher Creek in Southern Alberta, Adams was mauled by a grizzly bear. Adams was found by two other hunters, and died when rescuers were removing him from the area.[211] [212] |
| Alison Muser, 5, female | | Wild | Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta | Muser was mauled to death by a black colored Grizzly Bear while playing with her sister near Cameron Creek in Waterton Lakes National Park. She died en route to a Calgary hospital. The family had just recently moved to Canada from South Africa and was unaware of the danger posed by bears. The family threatened legal action against the park for failing to provide warnings of the dangers posed by the animals.[213] The bear responsible for the attack was killed.[214] [215] |
| Mary Pat Mahoney, 22, female | | Wild | Glacier National Park, Montana | Mahoney was dragged from a tent and killed at Many Glacier campground. Rangers killed two grizzly bears in the area a few hours after the attack.[216] [217] |
| Alan Precup, 25, male | September 11, 12 or 13, 1976; exact date unknown | Wild | | Precup did not return after backpacking in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Days later, searchers found his campsite with his bare skeleton, one intact hand, and both feet still booted.[218] |
| Barbara Chapman, 24, female | | Wild | Glacier National Park, British Columbia | While hiking with a friend in British Columbia's Glacier National Park, Chapman rounded a bend to find a grizzly bear charging. The bear first attacked Chapman's friend, who initially resisted, but left him alone after he played dead. The bear then attacked Chapman, who fought back and was quickly killed. Chapman's friend sustained serious injuries, but was able to hike out for help. The grizzly bear that attacked and her three cubs were soon found and killed.[219] [220] |
| Jay Reeves, 38, male | | Wild | Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska | Reeves was camping alone on the Alaskan Peninsula, near Cold Bay. A fisherman discovered a camp that looked like it was damaged by a bear, and found only Reeves' shoes. A helicopter spotted and shot a grizzly bear near the camp. Later, they found Reeves' bones, and an autopsy on the bear revealed human remains.[221] |
| Wilf Etherington, 51, male | | Wild | Banff National Park, Alberta | Etherington, a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, and a photographer were helping with the relocation of a troublesome grizzly bear in Banff National Park. The bear had been recently trapped and sedated. When the two men approached the bear, it charged and attacked Etherington.[222] [223] |
| Harry Walker, 25, male | | Wild | Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming | Walker was attacked by a bear that was feeding on food that was left out at his campsite near Old Faithful Inn.[224] |
| Harvey Cardinal, 48, male | | Wild | | Cardinal was attacked and partially eaten while hunting near the Doig River. The bear had a gum infection, and was shot and killed.[225] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
| Jack Ottertail, 53, male | | Wild | | Ottertail was killed while on a walk. A bear found near the body was shot and killed.[232] |
| Susan Duckitt, 11, female | | Wild | | Duckitt and a friend were picnicking by Okanagan Lake. They went on a walk up a hill and encountered the bear standing on its hind feet. The girls ran away, and Duckitt was caught. A man tracked down the bear and killed it with six shots.[233] |
| Phyllis Tremper, 3, female | | Captive | | A pet bear dragged Tremper into its cage at the Ponderosa Trailer Park in Prescott, Arizona. The bear's owner shot and killed it.[234] |
| Vernon Sauvola, 50, male | | Wild | | The report claims Sauvola was attacked while he was fishing in a stream, and his body was dragged 60 feet (18 m).[235] Mr. Sauvola was not found for five days, so substantial decomposition had occurred. It is unclear as to whether a bear actually attacked Mr. Sauvola or if a bear scavenged on the body after he died from another cause based on the visual evidence at the scene.[236] |
| Sidney Smith, 26, male | | Wild | | Smith, a technician on a radar line, was attacked by a black bear in a remote area. There was evidence that Smith tried to defend himself with a hunting knife.[237] |
| William Strandberg, 51, male | | Wild | | A bear killed Strandberg approximately 160miles west of Fairbanks. Strandberg was a member of a prominent Alaskan mining family.[238] [239] | |
| Name, age, sex | Date | class=unsortable | Type | Location | class=unsortable | Description |
|---|
George Langley, 55, male,
James Virtue, 68, male | | Captive | Ellsworth, Maine | Langley owned a gas station where he kept the bear. After entering the bear's cage to feed it, Langley and his helper were attacked. The bear was shot and killed.[269] |
| Clarence Staley, 54, male | | Captive | Mankato, Minnesota | Staley was mauled by a bear that he had raised from a cub. The caged bear attacked Staley when he tried to retrieve a purse that had been dropped inside the bear's cage.[270] |
| William Thomas "Bill" Brown Jr, 64, male | | Captive | Pecos County, Texas | Brown was killed while trying to recapture a bear from his roadside zoo. A posse shot and killed the bear.[271] |
| Grant Taylor, 11, male | | Captive | | On his walk home from school, Taylor stopped to feed an apple to a bear tethered in front of an inn. The bear mauled Taylor and crushed him against a wire cage. Motorists stopped and used sticks and stones to try to separate the bear from Taylor. Eventually, a man operating a nearby roadside stand came and shot and killed the bear. An examination revealed that the bear hadn't eaten in two days. The Inn had two bears that were trapped five years previously in the Adirondacks, and were frequently fed by passers-by. Both bears were killed.[272] [273]
|
| Peter Matthew Ryan, 5, male | | Captive | | Ryan was attacked after trying to get a close look at a pet bear. The bear was tied to a fence at Mount Albion Cemetery after a truck transporting it broke down.[274] |
| Emerson Joyce, 60, male | | Captive | | A female black bear who recently had her cubs taken away killed her feeder, Joyce. This occurred at the John C. Thompson Park Zoo.[275] | |
