Dog versus bear stories tend to go viral, but a new analysis suggests the reality of what’s unfolding is different than most people imagine. Researchers combed through 326 documented encounters between dogs and bears between 1901 and 2023 and found that dogs were behind more than half of them, or 54 percent, the report reported. New York Times. In only about a third of encounters did the dog come to its owner’s defense. And according to the count of researchers in the Journal of Wildlife ManagementIn only 9% of encounters, the dog managed to alert its owner to the presence of a bear.
“If you think a pet is likely to be your bear — not just as a detector but as a deterrent — you might want to think twice,” lead study author Tom Smith of Brigham Young University told High Country News. His team found that black bears were involved much more often than brown bears and that most of the dogs were medium-sized and off-leash. In fact, they were off leash 85% of the time. Dogs also have a habit of running back to their owners with an angry bear in tow, and when this has happened, 70% of humans have been injured. The study’s bottom line for dog owners in bear country is straightforward: Control your dog, or you could increase the risk to you, your pet and the bear.
Gn world
