Bears have killed nine times as many people when bear spray is sprayed than when handguns are fired in defense against bears. Fatal bear attacks are rare and make the news. Powerful cartridge handguns became popular and relatively easily available in about 1873. Bear spray became available in 1985. The ability to learn about and report fatal bear attacks has expanded enormously since 1960.
Data that are nearly impossible to obtain are:
- How many times are bears sprayed with bear spray?
- How many times are handguns fired in defense against bears?
- How many times are firearms generally fired in defense against bears?
- What percentage of human/bear conflicts involve serious danger to humans?
Collections of incidents involving bear spray and/or firearms are inherently subject to selection bias and confirmation bias. Some of this bias may be subconscious rather than intentional. Selection bias is built into the ability to gather data about the subject.
If no human is injured, there is little incentive to report successful defensive actions.
If a bear is sprayed and runs off, there is little to report and little incentive to report it.
If a bear is shot at and runs off, there is little to report and not much incentive to report it.
If a bear is shot and killed in defense, where legal hunting is allowed, it is often recorded as a hunting kill rather than a defense against bears.
Data on fatal bear attacks overcomes some of these issues. The bear attack was serious because the person was killed. Reporting of fatal bear attacks is more reliable than for any lesser level of conflict. Fatal bear attacks tend to be investigated, and investigative reports may contain higher levels of information.
Most fatal bear attacks involve people who are not armed or who do not use what arms they have.
Over the last several years, this correspondent and colleagues have been collecting all cases which can be documented where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear or bears. The total number of cases number over 170 from 1890 to 2023. All documented cases are included to avoid selection bias. Only one case is known where a human was killed. This is the incident in 1995 in the Svalbard Archipelago. The defenders fired a .22 rimfire handgun in defense against a polar bear. One person was killed and eaten. Bear spray is not allowed as a defense against bears in Svalbard. Pistols of less than .44 Caliber are unacceptable for bear protection in Svalbard.
Nine people are documented to have been killed in incidents where bear spray was sprayed in defense against bears. Those incidents occurred from 2003 to 2023. Eight of the nine fatalities occurred in North America, where bear spray is heavily promoted, in the eight years from 2017 to 2023. The nine fatalities are:
- 2003: Vitaly Nikolayenko was killed and eaten in Russia. He was a famous bear researcher.
- 2017: Erin Johnson was killed near the Pogo Mine in Alaska
- 2018: Mark Uptain was killed in Montana
- 2020:Â Daniel Schilling was killed in Alaska
- 2020: Stephanie Blaise was killed in Saskatchewan
- 2021: Carl Mock was killed near Yellowstone Park in Montana
- 2021: Leah Lokan was killed in Montana
- 2023: Doug Inglise and Jenny Gusse and their dog were killed in Alberta
As agencies and institutions have promoted the use of bear spray as a superior deterrent compared to handguns, and firearms in particular, more bear attack fatalities have occurred with the use of bear spray.
Seven of the fatal attacks appear to have been predatory attacks. The two exceptions are: Mark Uptain was a guide helping to process an elk when he was attacked; Carl Mock was attacked near a moose carcass on the border of Yellowstone Park.
As the use of bear spray has ramped up and been promoted in North America, the percentage of people killed in incidents where bear spray was used as a defense has been remarkable. Since 2016, eight of 22 people killed by bears were killed in incidents where bear spray was used as a defense. The numbers are very small. Eight incidents of 22 over eight years is 36%. In the same eight years 45 cases were documented where people fired pistols in defense against bears, and there were no human fatalities.
It is impossible to know how many times pistols were fired in defense against bears in the eight years or how many times bear spray was sprayed against bears as a defense during the same period.
The claim that bear spray is superior to handguns for defense against bears is not supported by the data on fatal bear attacks.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
I have great faith in bear spray. I carry a large can of it in my pickup in case I encounter protesters blocking the road.
Perhaps all bears should be trained to only approach human beings from downwind so that the bear spray will effectively reach the charging bear instead of spraying back in the wishful-thinking, dullard human being’s face. Maybe put signs up for the bears to read: No Upwind Approaching of Humans Allowed. Guaranteed to work, just like No Guns signs and No Drugs signs.
I saw a video that shows bears return to the site where bear spray was sprayed and the lick the ground and role in the residue . Does not seam to be much of a deterent to me . Just seasoning for the meal .
Correction: The Mark Uptain incident occurred in Wyoming, not Montana.
The link is correct. Previous articles have the location correct. Faulty editing on my part.
A long time ago, when I was in the military, I once did 100 four count push ups IN A C.S. CHAMBER for a case of German beer. It was not pleasant. I do understand that pepper spray and C.S. are two different animals but the point is even a human, being motivated, can go through that and still function so there is no reason that an angry or hungry bear can’t do the same. In many cases, pepper spray, is used by my family members as a spice in our food. There is no reason to believe that a… Read more »
here is a suggestion, have all the ivory tower living activists go into a known grizzly bear area and camp there for a week with only bear spray to protect them.
when they are all gone then we can put people in those agencies that will protect people instead of bear, or at least allow them to protect themselves against bears.
Bear spray manufacturers should include taggants – like the dye I’ve heard about – then authorities can identify the bear that attacked the human
Bears never attacked this frequently before. So, are bears truly attacking everybody? Or are bears being shot on sight?
Dean, have you ever come across a single report of successful use of bear spray?
the reason you dont get reports of effective use of bear spray ,dead people dont fill out reports and an empty spray can if found is not “PROOF” it did not work the reason I take a 50ae with me hunting and fishing, no substitute for a fast response large caliber…………