Larnoo: Man injured in bear attack

A man has suffered injuries after a wild bear attacked him in Larnoo village of Anantnag in Jammu and  Kashmir on Friday (April 12).

The man who has been attacked by wild bear is identified as Gull Mohd Dangroo (60) son of Ab Aziz Dangroo resident Lessu Larnoo of Anantnag district.

The injured man Dangroo was taken to PHC Larnoo for treatment where after first aid he has been referred to GMC Anantnag for further treatment.

A bear attack is an attack by a bear on another animal, although it usually refers to a bear attacking a human or domestic pet. Bear attacks are of particular concern for those who are in bear habitats. They can be fatal and often hikers, hunters, fishers, and others in bear country take precautions against bear attacks.

Stephen Herrero, a Canadian biologist, reports that during the 1990s, bears killed around three people a year in the U.S. and Canada, as compared to the 30 to 50 people killed every year by dogs.

Causes

Almost all recorded bear attacks in the wild have resulted from the human surprising the bear. Hunters are the people most at risk of bear attacks because, as Tom Smith, a U.S. Geographical Survey research biologist, describes, “Hunters typically aren’t making any noise, and they sleuth around while wearing camo.” Hunters try to be silent and, though many hunters wear reflective clothing so as not to become targets for other hunters, they try to hide their movements so as not to startle game. Most bear attacks result from hunters suddenly appearing in front of them, startling a bear into an instinctive act of aggression.

A bear’s first reaction upon detecting a human is to run away. Fergus lists a few possible causes for this instinctive reaction, each a speculation or theory based more on intuition rather than physical evidence. Some speculate that bears inherit their cautious nature from thousands of years ago when they had to be wary of larger and more dangerous carnivores. Some believe that bears have come to relate a human presence to firearms, or other weaponry, that they have come to fear. Still others think that hunters tend to target more aggressive bears, thus leaving only the more shy and timid bears to reproduce, creating a population of bears less hostile than before.