More houses burn in forest fires than ever before...because there are more houses in the forest ("urban-wilderness interface"). Similarly, there are more human-bear encounters because there are 1) more folks in the bears habitat and, 2) in some areas, more bears. Or as Dr. Herrero was quoted in the article, “It’s simply more and more people out there interacting with bears.”

I would dispute outright that attacks and fatalities have "increased dramatically in the past 20 years due to...policies in predator management." Yet, I don't now have any references to support that refutation.

dla -- do you have anything to support your contention that policies have caused an increase in violent human-bear encounters?

FB