*sigh*.
Let's turn to the dictionary, shall we?
Provoke (verb)
stimulate or give rise to (a reaction or emotion, typically a strong or unwelcome one) in someone.
"the decision provoked a storm of protest from civil rights organizations"
stimulate or incite (someone) to do or feel something, especially by arousing anger in them.
deliberately make (someone) annoyed or angry. "Rachel refused to be provoked"
Notice in the primary and seco dary definitions, the action of being provoked need NOT be deliberate. Only in the tertiary definition does 'provoke' include a deliberate, intentional action.
I will say it again. Most bear attacks are due to a deliberate action that provokes the bear. Most of those are out of ignorance, but it's still an intentional action.
Examples: wild gesticulations, failure to put food up properly, approaching the bear (this is always a problem in National Parks and not just with bears. A woman was recently gored by a buffalo). Shooting off firearms, etc.
It need not be you doing the provoking behavior for you to be attacked. You could be at a picnic grounds and barking dogs might provoke aggression from the bear.
But many times, it is deliberate. As a child, I saw a black bear take a swipe at a guy at the picnic grounds in Cades Cove. Dude had been drinking and thought it would be fun to "tag" the bear. There were kids, elderly, and pets in the area and this fool endangered every one of them to harass a bear.
As a kid, I also played "peek-a-boo" with a bear in the blackberry patch in the undeveloped areas behind my grandparents house. As a young adult, I fostered a bear cub for a few days until we could get it to a wildlife rehab center equipped to care for it to return it to the wild (it's eyes weren't opened yet). As a student, I assisted cultivating a tract of old growth forest for bears. Making sure they had food, checking for health, etc. There were already bears on that land, so I have been in the woods, encountering bears.
And yes, I would much rather have those bear encounters alone than encounters with some of my male classmates who were part of that lab group. In a fucking heartbeat.
I've been around bears in both National Parks and private forested land, and backwoods
No offense, but you're European. Y'all have long forgotten what it's like to live rurally amongst wild animals. It's like how you don't have a concept of geographical distances like we do.
It is not uncommon when you live rurally in America for wild animals to take up with you after a fashion. They're still wild animals and you have to respect that, they're not pets. You most certainly have to be aware of how you move. But them being around is just part of life in rural America.
It's nothing to get overly excited, histrionic and sensationalist about.
Water is dangerous too. People still go boating for recreation.
Cars are dangerous. People still get in them every day.
People die of workplace accidents too. And again, here in America it's most often because of foolishness. Somebody showing out. When I worked at Amazon a worker was beheaded by a forklift because some guy came to work high and decided to cut donuts on the warehouse floor in a forklift. Foolishness.
But time and ti.e again when workplace safety measures are put in place those same men who harm themselves and others wil scream bloody murder about being emasculated.
Is that the forklift's fault? Was the forklift out to get anyone?
