I have reservations about those tame bear stories, too. Talking with a ranger at McClure Meadow several years ago, he had a number of stories of people being pretty badly hurt by bears (at various locations on the JMT) One instance was where a hiker was chasing a cub away from food, and was attacked by the mother bear.
Ah, but do remember that these are the same ones that will tell you that you need to filter the water to save your life.
Do remember that the individual being discussed is the retired former chief bear biologist for the US Forest Service, not just some rube feeding circus bears, or a nut like Tim Treadwell. He is a life-long bear researcher, with a string of academic publications that is truly impressive:
-Lynn Rogers, Ph.D., has spent over 42 years learning about wildlife and sharing his information with the public......
-he has radio-tracked over 100 bears in the vast forests of northeastern Minnesota, studying some for as long as 22 years....
-By 1975, Rogers' bear study was ranked one of the four top studies of large mammals in the world, along with studies by Jane Goodall, Brian Bertram, and Ian Hamilton. Professor E. O. Wilson of Harvard University wrote, "A new level of resolution has been attained, in which free-ranging individuals are tracked from birth through socialization, parturition, and death, and their idiosyncrasies, personal alliances, and ecological relationships recorded in clinical detail."
-The study became even more detailed in the next two decades. Rogers formed trusting relationships with wild black bears, including mothers with cubs, and spent 24-hour periods walking and resting with these intelligent animals, detailing their activities, diet, ecology, social organization, vocalizations, and more, providing much of the scientific information on black bear behavior available today
-Rogers has written over a hundred scientific articles on black bear behavior and ecology and
has served as senior author on more peer-reviewed scientific articles on bears than anyone in the world.-Regarded by many as the Jane Goodall of black bears, Rogers has a Ph.D. in Ecology and Behavioral Biology from the University of Minnesota. Rewards include the Quality Research Award from the U. S. Forest Service and the Anna M. Jackson Award from the American Society of Mammalogists
But then, we can simply ignore those who have devoted their lives to the research of bears and what they have observed, researched, and written about, because our "common sense" tells us the way things are. Don't drive east of Badwater, you might drive off the earth.
"Eppur si muove" -Galileo
I particularly find it amusing to find rejection of science regarding bears, and embracing of science on outhouses. I guess whatever works, eh?
