List of fatal bear attacks in North America

Black bear

Name, age, sex Date Type Location Description

Laney Malavolta, 39, Female April 30, 2021 Wild Durango, Colorado Malavolta was attacked and killed while walking her dogs off of US 550, near Trimble. Her body showed signs of partial consumption. Authorities shot and killed a mother black bear and two cubs found nearby. [7]

Stephanie Blais, 44, female August 20, 2020 Wild Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan Stephanie was communicating with her father from a satellite phone while camping with her two children and husband at a family cabin on McKie Lake when the bear attacked her. Her husband, Curtis, was inside the cabin's kitchen thirty metres away. The investigation showed the attack was unprovoked and predatory in nature. Curtis subsequently sprayed the bear with pepper spray, but this only aggravated the animal. He grabbed a gun and shot it twice, killing the bear.[8][9]

Peter Franczak, 67, male July 20, 2020 Wild Red Lake, Ontario Franczak went blueberry picking in the morning and did not return. Officers of the Ontario Provincial Police went to search for him and found his remains along with a black bear in the vicinity. Postmortem examination later attributed Franczak's death to bear attack. The bear was killed by police when they arrived at the scene.[10]

Brown bear

Name, age, sex Date Type Location Description

Unidentified male July 6, 2021 Wild Ovando, Montana A man was attacked and killed on his bicycle near his campsite in Powell County by a grizzly bear. The bear had wandered into the campsite multiple times before the attack.[11] [12]

Unidentified female, 68 May 25, 2021 Wild Water Valley, Alberta The woman was attacked and killed by a bear while walking on trails on her private property. An aggressive grizzly sow with a cub was observed shortly afterwards by wildlife officers nearby. A mature non-lactating female grizzly bear with worn teeth was then captured and euthanized, with DNA testing confirming this was the responsible bear. This attack occurred about 24 kilometres away from the May 4, 2021 attack that killed David Lertzman, however the DNA testing confirmed that different bears were involved. [13] [14] [15]

David Lertzman, 59, Male May 4, 2021 Wild Waiparous, Alberta Lertzman was attacked and killed by a bear, determined to be a female brown bear, while out jogging. The bear is suspected to have attacked Lertzman from behind, sending him off a 300m embankment. [16] [17] [18]

Charles "Carl" Mock, 40, male April 17, 2021 Wild North of West Yellowstone A Montana wilderness guide with a love for the outdoors died after he was mauled by a grizzly bear likely defending a moose carcass near Yellowstone National Park, wildlife officials said. Charles "Carl" Mock, 40, was attacked on Thursday April 15, 2021 while fishing north of West Yellowstone near a campground.[19]

Austin Pfeiffer, 22, male September 20, 2020 Wild Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska Pfeiffer was on a 10-day moose hunt with a friend near the Chisana River Drainage. He was cleaning a moose he had killed when the bear attacked without warning. Pfeiffer was killed and eaten by the bear.[20]

Daniel Schilling, 46, male July 29, 2020 Wild Hope, Alaska Schilling was killed while clearing a path several miles behind his cabin. An empty can of bear spray was found at the scene. There were no witnesses to the attack.[21][22]

• Three killed, another 3 injured in bear attack in Jharkhand, India
• Bear kills man in Slovakia forest in what could be first fatal attack
• Bear tears apart and kills teen campsite worker in Russia
• Woman killed by bear, 4 injured in Chhattisgarh, India - 2 weeks after killed 4 in the area
• Man killed by brown bear in Hokkaido, Japan
• Himalayan black bear attacks couple, mauls woman to death in Uttarakhand, India
• Bear kills woman in Kashmir
• Man killed by polar bear on Norway's Arctic Svalbard islands