MS;

Part of the problem is you live in grizzley country. I hear they even reside within Anchorage city limits... But most backpackers never visit grizzley habitat and it's important not to confuse grizzley problems with black bear problems. Maybe I'm guilty of that.

Black bears can indeed be troublesome. One mistook a baby for a picnic basket only a short distance from New York City a few years ago, with tragic consequences.

Your point about "urbanized bears" versus "wild bears" seems a bit garbled.

I'm sure you mean the habituated bears are the ones that tend to cause problems (we're talking black, not brown bears. I don't pretend to know much about brown bears, other than that they are much more aggressive than black bears.)

Interestingly, the Eurasian brown bear is the very same species as the grizzley. Yet for some reason grizzley's reputation seems a bit worse. I wonder if it's just a human cultural matter, or something else.