News, Women chased by bear, live to tell tale and commemorate it in ink (dog, coyote)

[JD59]

Nikki Latta, 23, and Lindsay Jones, 25, set off on a hike near the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, having a laugh at the notion of a bear attack. How terrifying! Ha ha! They noticed a passing dog freak out. Weird. Latta looked up. There was a black bear. Five feet behind her friend, who was no longer laughing. "I turned around and there was my worst nightmare," Jones said.

Nikki Latta and pal Lindsay Jones stalked by bear in Candian woods

[oeccscclhjhn]

nice.

[NJmmadude]

I realize that anything is possible, but I have walked up on black bears and have seen them run, and they can run with pretty incredible speed for an animal of that size. In the story it reads that they ran from the bear, and forty minutes later it was still in pursuit. Not saying that the bear was not uncomfortably curious or even planning to have a snack of them eventually, but they most certainly did not outrun a bear who intended to catch them.

[brokencrayola]

That is a very strange story. That bear could have caught them at any time. It sounds like he was toying with them, chasing them for 40 minutes. I am surprised it didn't just walk off, or attack them.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by NJmmadude

I realize that anything is possible, but I have walked up on black bears and have seen them run, and they can run with pretty incredible speed for an animal of that size. In the story it reads that they ran from the bear, and forty minutes later it was still in pursuit. Not saying that the bear was not uncomfortably curious or even planning to have a snack of them eventually, but they most certainly did not outrun a bear who intended to catch them.

Yeah, a black bear is slightly faster than the fast human alive and can accelerate much quicker.

He was probably just curious.

[Kracer]

In Nj you hear stories of Warren county folks having intimate encounters with bear.

One lady tells me she was over a friends house where a bear hangs out all the time and as she was going to photograph it, it walked up to her and nudged her camera.

Bears playing with humans is commonplace locally until such time as a nature lover gets woofed.

[BlackShoe]

Bit skeptical about the whole story, puzzling behavior by the bear if true. If the bear's intent was hostile, one or both of the young women would have been killed. Black bears are not just big, cute, cuddly fuzz balls that are easily frightened, as many people seem to think. They are powerful predators that can an do kill humans. Rare, but it has happened. Contrary to the old myth, a bear, black or grizzly, cannot remotely outrun a racehorse for a short distance. Compared to other animals they are actually pretty slow. They are slower than coyotes or wolves, and wolves are not very fast. They are, however, a bit faster than a world class Olympic sprinter, which goes to show just how slow and weak humans are compared to a predator.