sucks to hear that… just a week or two ago one was spotted in Fuxing District of Taoyuan County, Taoyuan County’s most mountainous, rural and rugged district. It was something like the northernmost spotting of a Taiwan black bear in about 25 years. Seems like the black bears are getting out of their normal range much more often than before nowadays… wonder what that’s about. I remember reading before that they almost never went below 1000 meters but in just the last few years there have been many sightings below 1000 meters and more interactions with human settlements.
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That’s unusual, I wonder if it was injured or rabid to set off the violent behavior…
Yup. Some bears are wandering into human settlements more and more frequently lately. If anyone (perhaps @urodacus ?) knows more about why this is happening, I’d love to hear it.
Guy
What do they tend to eat?
Black bears tend to be omnivorous scavengers, and also kinda timid. Not really a predatory animal…
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They kill some people in Japan every year don’t they ? They lose their fear of humans and the population increases and things could change here. Not that I’m saying it has to happen or we should be culling them , their population is still very low in Taiwan I believe.
My guess is the population of bears in Taiwan may be expanding as conversation efforts have helped ? Just a guess.
I just read up on it, seems they are spreading into areas that humans are abandoning…
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Yes. But it could also be they lost their fear of humans because nobody is hunting them in Taiwan anymore ? I wonder …because I don’t think Taiwan is so empty like Japan.
Ah, your Japanese link says black bears AND brown bears. Brown bears are very different, we don’t have those in Taiwan. Much more dangerous…
Yes I know you are right. But black bears also attack people in Japan regularly now , plenty of youtubes online about it. They seem not to be so afraid of people anymore and yes the countryside is getting wilder there.
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Conversation with bears is very important.
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Think that is exactly what is happening in Taiwan although this was a special case of a rescued bear that may have gotten to comfortable and knowledgeable about humans during his rehabilitation,
When I first started cycling in Taiwan in the early 1990s there was all kinds of economic activity between 500 and 1000 meters. This zone has largely been abandoned now.
What makes Zhuoxi special is that it is on the edge of Yushan national park and there are still people living in and working the lower altitudes.
I watched a YouTube video last night as I fell asleep about the comparative dangers of different bears. Turns out the Asian black bears are more aggressive than the North American variety I am familiar with. Good to know, because I take zero bear precautions here (except for not having food in the tent, old habit)
I don’t camp deep in the forest outside of designated camping sites anyways, mostly because I don’t want to camp in the wrong place:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4258558
Plenty of Japanese black bears in the video.
They attack because we invaded their space, doesn’t seem like they particularly wanted to get a taste of us clothed apes.
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The video stopped because you edited, so I won’t start it again.
Anyways, black bears aren’t generally aggressive. Asian black bears moreso than North American. But neither is a predatory species like polar bears…
Or grizzlies. Don’t mess with grizzlies! 
Guy
Just give them.honey???
A jar would do?
I think they prefer pic-a-nic baskets.
Here’s another incident… geezzz… I wonder what the heck is going on with them?
Mother and cub spotted along the Walami trail.
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