[pct-l] interesting facts

[Steve Courtway]

For every one person who gets their stuff torn up and salivated upon by a 
bear, you have one really bummed out person.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "yogi" <yogihikes at sbcglobal.net>
To: <bluebrain at bluebrain.ca>; <pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 11:57 AM
Subject: [pct-l] interesting facts


> yes, I understand how statistics read differently
> depending upon what they're applied to or related to.
>
> I simply found the statement interesting.  I was
> trying to lighten up all the bickering and one-up-ness
> on the PCT-L lately.  Guess that didn't work.
>
> yogi
> www.pcthandbook.com
>
>
>
> --- bluebrain at bluebrain.ca wrote:
>
>>
>> Stats are tricky!  These are just raw numbers and
>> don't speak to the
>> proportion of the population that's exposed to these
>> various critters.
>>
>> Bees are everywhere, all year round.  Most of us
>> will get at least one bee
>> stings over the course of our lives.  There are
>> plenty of varieties of
>> deadly snakes (four in the continental US) and some
>> share habitat with
>> humans.  There's no shortage of poison spiders
>> around the world ...
>> funnel-web, red-backs, brown recluse, black widow,
>> to name a few that can
>> kill humans.  Dogs are plentiful and live almost
>> exclusively in human
>> country.
>>
>> So, all in all, a large percentage of the human
>> population is exposed to
>> bees, snakes, spiders and dogs, while relatively few
>> of us, comparatively
>> speaking, spend time in bear country.
>>
>> There are also billions of these other creatures,
>> while there are really
>> very few bears, even when in bear country.
>>
>> Interesting stats for sure, but unfortunately not a
>> good representation of
>> relative risk.
>>
>> Still, good numbers to reassure friends and family
>> when they express worry
>> about trail safety.  ;-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Paul
>>
>> > For every human death from a bear,
>> > 17 people die from spiders bites
>> > 25 people die from snake bites
>> > 67 people die from dog attacks
>> > 180 people die from bee stings.
>>
>>
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>
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