[pct-l] Ariz. woman has 6 surgeries after bear attack

[Charles Doersch]

Thanks for posting this. I'm always interested ~ and it reminded me of
something I heard recently.

I was watching a lecture by researcher Dan Gilbert at Harvard University
recently. He noted that what we read or notice in the news -- what we hear
about and what makes headlines -- what folks bring up or talk about -- is
what we end up thinking is more likely to happen. We've heard about it more,
so it must happen more.

Apparently this is pretty hard-wired in our brains. For example, when
research subjects were asked in a study by Harvard psychologists to estimate
the likelihood of dying by tornado, fireworks, asthma, and downing -- people
predictably overestimated tornado and fireworks to a huge degree, and
underestimated asthma and drowning to an even more exaggerated degree. The
researchers concluded it's because we hear about tornado deaths, for
example, more than we hear about backyard swimming pool deaths (which is the
biggie in mortality).

So, in the interest of identifying where the likelihood of being mauled
actually occurs  -- and as a point of perspective -- maybe we should all
keep an eye out for dogs on the PCT or in our own neighborhoods (and I say
this as a guy who adores dogs, speaks fluent dog, and is a damned fine dog
whisperer  :-D).

Dogs in the US attack 4.7 million people a year. And more than 800,000
people a year [according to the American Humane Society] require medical
attention, including surgeries, as a result of being attacked by dogs. The
Centers for Disease Control estimate* *1,000 hospital visits per day due to
dog attacks.

Now, having said that -- I actually don't worry unduly about either dogs or
bears (or even our courteous rattlesnakes). I pay attention.

But black bears, among whom I've lived and camped for years and years, are
pretty low on my list of worries. :-)

Cheers,

Charles Doersch



On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Tortoise <Tortoise73 at charter.net> wrote:

> another attack, this one from Spy Master.
>
> Woman mauled by black bear, too .  Bear suspected to have been annoyed by
> woman as it was going
> through garbage.
>
>
>
>
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/07/07/national/a082744D93.DTL&tsp=1
>
> --
> Tortoise
>
> <>  Because truth matters.<>
>
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