Quote:
Originally Posted by Russic
None of us know for sure obviously, but I would be blown away if experienced backcountry campers would ever bring food into a tent. I get it that people are dumb and complacency happens across an entire population, but once you narrow it down to people who tent in remote areas, that's a pretty rare whoopsy-doodle.
I feel in situations like this, we clamour for reason. The prospect that somebody can do everything correct and still get eaten is terrifying. We all want to be able to say it wouldn't happen to us because we're smarter or more prepared. The uncomfortable truth is sh*t happens and sometimes there's nothing you can do.
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Agreed. I mean, it could have been as simple as the bear smelling food on the dog or the dog itself or a little bit of a smear on their clothes that they forgot about or didn't think it was significant enough to worry about because it wasn't actual food. Sometimes people focus too much on intentional and forget about accidental.
As many pointed out, the odds of being mauled by a bear is very, very small. According to this, 48 people have been killed by Grizzlies since 1980 in North America. 43 years, 48 people with the majority Western Canada and Alaska. It's about 1-2 per year fatality wise and the numbers likely get even smaller on average when you look at Alberta vs BC and Alaska's statistics.
https://ocanada.fyi/how-rare-are-bea...stern%20Canada.
Based on how many people go into the back country, even at this time when it's "higher risk" and they did everything right as far as it is known, it's still a risk that's ridiculously small. It's a crazy one off.
https://ama.ab.ca/articles/wildlife-road-safety-tips
According to a few websites, there's around 5-6 people who die per year due to a vehicle collision with wildlife on the highway. It seems that you're multiple times more likely to die in a collision with an animal on the way to a back country hike in Alberta than being specifically mauled by a grizzly.