Will You Be Killed by a Bear?
How common are fatal bear attacks?
To put things into perspective:
| Cause of Death | Years Data Collected | Locations | Total Area (km2) | Deaths/Year | Deaths/Year/Area (Deaths/104km2)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical deaths | 2014-2016 | National Parks | 340,000 | 74 | 2.2 |
| Drowning | 2014-2016 | National Parks | 340,000 | 58 | 1.7 |
| Motor vehicle crashes | 2014-2016 | National Parks | 340,000 | 54 | 1.6 |
| Falls | 2014-2016 | National Parks | 340,000 | 29 | 0.9 |
| Bear attacks | 1900-2023 | Combined total of : National Parks National Forests National Preserves National Wildlife Refuges National Recreation Areas State Parks State Forests State Recreation Areas State Wildlife Management Areas | 4,797,427 | <0.58 | <0.001 |
*Total area of State Recreation Areas not included because not available
All the above statistics, except those for bear attacks, are from the US National Park Service (NPS). The NPS doesn’t provide statistics for bear attacks, maybe because the number is too low to be worth reporting.
The bear-attack statistics are from Vox’s meta-analysis of news archives about attacks since 1900 in all of the following areas combined:
- National Parks
- National Forests
- National Preserves
- National Wildlife Refuges
- National Recreation Areas
- State Parks
- State Forests
- State Recreation Areas
- State Wildlife Management Areas
In national parks, the leading cause of death is medical problems such as heart attacks and strokes.
Second place is roughly a tie between drowning and motor vehicle crashes.
In the above chart, the number of deaths by vehicle crashes in these areas is over 1,600 times the number of deaths by bear attacks. The actual difference is greater because state recreation areas are not included in the calculations.
Why are there so many deaths by car crashes in national parks? Driving in national parks is no more dangerous than driving in your city. The number is high simply because driving is always extremely dangerous no matter where you drive. Oddly, many people drive to work every day without a second thought but fear being attacked by a bear while hiking in bear country.
Just because the probability of an adverse incident is extremely low doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions. But keep things in perspective!