North America has seen at least 73 documented black or grizzly bear attacks and encounters in 2026. This increase is attributed to drought and food shortages driving animals into human-populated areas in search of sustenance.
Responding to a perceived uptick in such incidents, Mike Dickerson, a 71-year-old Texas outdoorsman and writer, initiated a personal project to track bear attacks and encounters. Dickerson noted the absence of a comprehensive national database for these incidents, as state agencies independently tally such data.
Dickerson’s compilation, initially shared on Facebook, includes at least 73 encounters across 13 U.S. states, four Canadian provinces, and the Yukon Territory. Of these, 64 were classified as attacks that led to an injury or a fatality.
Bear experts distinguish an attack as any instance where a bear physically injures a person, while an encounter refers to any contact with a bear. Dickerson stated his list aimed to document reported interactions, such as bluff charges, as well as direct attacks.
One severe incident occurred around 3:30 A.M. on October 7 near Salmon, Idaho. A black bear sow and her two cubs broke into Brian Heidemann’s home. Heidemann reportedly tackled the mother bear to protect his sleeping daughters and wife, suffering bite wounds and deep gashes to his head, torso, and shoulder. State officials later euthanized the three bears involved in the home invasion.
Chris Servheen, former national grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, analyzed Dickerson’s data. Servheen found that black bears were involved in over two-thirds of the incidents on the list. Additionally, dogs were present in a quarter of all reported bear attacks. Servheen cautioned that lists such as Dickerson's tend to be biased toward serious events, as many minor encounters go unreported.
Dickerson acknowledged his list was not a scientific study, stating his purpose was simply to create a list and track attacks in North America. He primarily gathered his data from publicly available sources, including media reports and automated news alerts, supplemented by some direct reports from hunters.
Servheen further explained that 2026 appears to be an unusually active year for bears, especially in the Western U.S. He noted that it is a "bad food year for bears due to drought and climate change reducing natural foods," which increases interactions as more people live and recreate in bear habitats.
Historical data suggests an increase in bear attacks. A 2019 study indicated North America experienced 183 brown bear attacks between 2000 and 2015, averaging 11 per year. Between 1990 and 2019, black and grizzly bears have caused at least 150 fatalities in North America, with a higher number of deaths recorded in recent decades compared to a century ago. The accuracy of Dickerson's data was verified against media and government reports describing incidents with black, brown, or grizzly bears; one incident was reported directly to Dickerson without public publication.