All great information posted above.

First you must accept that EVERY activity involves risks of sorts. You must weigh sensibly if you are willing to accept these risks and live comfortably with your decisions. Most of the time we are processing these decisions with little distraction like simply choosing to get in an automobile and drive amongst distracted and drunk drivers. Not exactly what I consider a SAFE activity. When things like sharks, bears, wild cats enter into the picture the very thought of being eaten alive stirs up primal fears that are mostly irrational.

Second statistics, unless detailed, do not usually describe in detail the when, where and why's of the numbers.

Lastly statistics can many times be manipulated to say just about anything you want.

I would say the majority of healthy folks have some sort of fears. Not all the same and not to the same degree. It would seem this to be a superior form of survival tactic built in to the human psyche. If you judge your fears to be greater than the actual situation will support you will, as stated above, need to work on that issue first.

As for the fear of bears I would look first at why such events happen. Something rarely offered in general stats. Before entering into bear territory we always ask about recent events. Our last trip to Yellowstone we were informed of 3 recent events in the park that year. My first thought was wow seems like a lot. While chatting with the Ranger at the gate we discovered that all 3 incidents were traceable to poor human behavior. One was the third mauling for a very careless photographer. Another was a runner ignoring warnings of an off limits area containing a carcass from a recent Grizzly kill. My apologies I cant recall the third, but you get the idea. Having the additional information turned what seemed like "bears gone wild" into "well that makes sense". So armed with that information coupled with all our past experiences and knowledge we continued on and rarely gave it another thought. I would add that I am not at all surprised that bear encounters are happening despite the remarkable efforts of the Authorities in places like Glacier and Yellowstone to keep them from happening. If fact I am surprised there are not more. The majority of visitors IMO are just not taking the good advise of the Rangers in how to avoid bear contact. So many are your typical tourists, some thinking these wild preserves are versions of Disneyworld. I have seen shocking behavior that explains exactly why encounters take place

Sometimes the bottom line in accepting risk involves the degree of desire you have to experience a particular adventure. Be smart, be safe and enjoy the adventure.

jimmyb