Black Bear Attack near Yosemite

[Faiaoga]

Larry Yepez, a retired Forest Service employee and Marine Corps veteran, was attacked by a black bear outside Yepez' house in Midpine CA. Yepez was able to fight off the 200 pound black bear but was badly bitten. Apparently, the bear was outside foraging for food. and Yepez surprised the bear in the middle of the night and was attacked by the bear. Midpine is a rural area outside Yosemite National Park.
A link to news articles would be helpful.

[crashdive123]

Yes it would. Why not post it?

[crashdive123]

I guess I will - not sure why you didn't. http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans...-bear-1.363388

[Rick]

If I walked upon a bear at night I'm not sure who would be the most surprised. Me or the bear.

I once walked around the corner of a house and a St. Bernard was standing there taking a whiz. It was pretty clear I scared the rest of the pee out of him and he almost did the same to me. Fortunately, we decided to call it a draw and no one got injured. But not before I back peddled a good 10 yards. He probably went 120 or 130lb so surprising a 200lb bear is not on my bucket list.

[finallyME]

I was backpacking with a group of scouts (I was one of the scouts at 16 yr old). We surprised a sow with cubs. The cubs ran at us. Luckily we were a good distance and the mom just yelled at the cubs to come back and they all three rambled off into the woods.

[TXyakr]

Thanks for the link Crash. Does appear the problem was that the human startled the bear and the bear was bigger and better equipped for the encounter. Human will probably consider using a chamber pot apon returning to his cabin or even the advanced luxury of indoor plumbing. How about bear resistant trash containers? In the long run the critters always lose when humans are irresponsible around wildlife. That bear must die because this human did not act responsibility.

[Horsefeathers]

I live in Los Alamos, NM. A couple of weeks ago a runner on a trail in the mountains close to town came across a mama and cub. Now I have to admit, I always wondered if you couldn't just wave your arms at a bear and scare it away. However, this guy tried it -- the cub went up a tree and the mama came after him. Bit his hands and head pretty severely. He had to hike 2.5 miles to a road. Hospital was close by, but he was airlifted to another town. Haven't heard how he was doing, but I guess he survived. Guess I will stick to stopping and backing away slowly while not maintaining eye contact if I come across one.

[crashdive123]

I live in Los Alamos, NM. A couple of weeks ago a runner on a trail in the mountains close to town came across a mama and cub. Now I have to admit, I always wondered if you couldn't just wave your arms at a bear and scare it away. However, this guy tried it -- the cub went up a tree and the mama came after him. Bit his hands and head pretty severely. He had to hike 2.5 miles to a road. Hospital was close by, but he was airlifted to another town. Haven't heard how he was doing, but I guess he survived. Guess I will stick to stopping and backing away slowly while not maintaining eye contact if I come across one.

Mama will ALWAYS protect her babies for any perceived threat. Humans near the cubs are a perceived threat. Waving arms toward a cub may look like an attack.