Bears - Sounds Wild
Peaceful bears

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Peaceful bears

Bears are powerful animals, but that doesn't automatically make them dangerous animals. It's important to be cautious and respectful of bears, but it's also important not to live in fear. The occasional bear attack in Alaska is always well-publicized, but it's important to remember that for every attack there are hundreds or thousands of peaceful, harmless encounters. People outdoors may be unaware that bears are nearby, and the bears overall live and let live attitude keeps it that way.

Black bears in particular are unlikely to be aggressive. The Discovery Foundation, a Juneau-based educational nonprofit group, conducted a study of bear encounters in Juneau. They looked at all the records that existed of people hurt by a bear in Juneau. In a 20-year period, between 1977 and 1977, they found just one. In 1991 a woman was knocked over by a bear that was running past her.

To put that in perspective, they asked the Gastineau Humane Society how many people had been bitten by dogs in a single year. In 1996, 79 people reported being bitten by dogs. Finally, they asked the Juneau police how many records of assaults on people by people were reported in 1996. The answer was 577.