The Surprising Number Of People Killed By Bears In Minnesota

Everyone who lives in Minnesota has likely heard many warnings regarding things that need to be done to avoid conflicts with black bears.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has an entire page dedicated to 'Living With Bears', noting that conflicts between people and bears have increased as more people build homes and cabins and recreate in northern and central Minnesota.

Potential conflicts can happen when bears interact with pets, tip over garbage cans, or damage bird feeders, personal property, beehives, livestock, and crops.

Therefore, the DNR offers helpful tips for homeowners to reduce the risk of bear conflicts. Things they say you should do include:

• Remove bird feeders in the spring. If you persist in feeding birds during the summer, remove seed, suet, and hummingbird feeders at night. You can also hang bird feeders from a cable out of a bear’s reach: 10-12 feet off the ground and 10 feet from any other trees.
• Store your trash can in a secure area, such as a sturdy shed or garage, and put it out on the morning of garbage pickup, not the night before. Alternately, contact your trash hauler service about bear-proof garbage can options.
  Wash garbage cans regularly to reduce odors. Rinse food cans and wrappers before disposal.
• Store meat scraps and fish entrails in the freezer until trash pickup day.
  Limit compost piles to grass, leaves, and garden clippings, and turn piles regularly.
  Immediately cover composting food scraps with 6 inches or more of brown materials, like leaves, or 4 inches of green materials like fresh mowed grass.
• Harvest garden produce as it matures.
• Pick up and remove ripe fruit from fruit trees and the surrounding grounds. If your fruit crop is too abundant to clean up, consider protecting your fruit trees with energized fencing.
• Clean grills and store them in a secure location, such as a sturdy shed or garage.
  Keep doors and windows shut when you are not in your home or cabin. Bears have pushed in screen doors and windows to enter cabins to find food sources when people are not around.

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They also offer bear avoidance tips for resorts and restaurants, those recreating outdoors, and more.

With all this talk about avoiding black bears, you can't blame people for getting anxious when they do see one in the open. It makes you wonder just how dangerous they are and (gulp!), how many people have been killed by black bears in Minnesota?

How Many People Have Been Killed By Black Bears In Minnesota?

While seeing a black bear in your yard or out in the woods will likely make your heart race, the good news is that chances are you will survive.

As of the date of this article, experts say there have been no fatal bear attacks in Minnesota.

Now, that doesn't mean you want to let your guard down if you find yourself near a black bear. While there have been no known deaths, and black bear attacks are rare in Minnesota, there have been documented attacks causing serious injuries.

In 2023, a woman was seriously injured in a black bear attack in Minnesota. It was the tenth documented bear attack to cause serious injuries to a person in Minnesota since 1987.

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What You Should Do Should You Encounter A Bear

If you encounter a bear, your course of action is dependent on where you are. For example, if you're on a trail or in the woods, the DNR says:

• Do not panic. Stop what you are doing and evaluate the situation.
• Make your presence known by speaking in a calm tone. Don’t startle the bear.
• Alter your route or back away slowly, preferably in the direction you came.
• Walk, do not run, and keep your eye on the bear so you can see how it reacts. In most cases, the bear will flee.
• If the bear walks toward you, act boldly, yelling and throwing something at it. Do not climb a tree.
• If you have bear spray, remove the safety and be ready to use it if the bear approaches you.

If you're at home or your cabin, you should:

• Watch from a safe distance, or from inside, to assess why it is there (for example, is there a food source like birdseed attracting it?).
• Wait and see if the bear leaves on its own. If the bear does not leave on its own, but approaches (e.g., comes up on the deck, or puts its paws on windows or doors), it’s time to try to scare it away: boldly shout, bang pots, slam the door, or throw something.

The bottom line is to play it safe around bears so we can keep the total number of people killed by black bears in Minnesota right where it is.

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