"The tragedies are sad. Its sad when someone dies out if stupidity or carelessness."
As noted above,, it's the people who believe that animals are a Disney creation that started the base cause of these kinds of things.
Many people believe a Disney version of animals. And they want to make "natural & wild" places restored "before man moved in" type of environment. They push for laws to stop hunting,, to re-introduce species into places where they've been wiped out or almost wiped out. Then they think they can go into these very same places without any concerns for safety or worry. They push for regulations against the carrying of a protection device,, (firearms,) and even impose strict penalties against the humans who ignore the laws or even use a firearm for SD.
So they create a sanctuary for wildlife. And often,, a sanctuary for 2 legged predators as well. Animals adapt & thrive in such places. And when the carrying capacity of the land is exceeded,, the predator animals move out of the sanctuary places in search of food. I actually had a customer ask me; "Why can't the bears stay in the woods?" because one was tearing up his trash.
Disney mentality.
Yet,, in the very same county locally where we have the biggest problems of human/bear encounters,, it's also the biggest population of PEOPLE who have the Disney mentality. They pass laws or restrict access to places to hunt. They do everything to protect all the bears,, even at the expense of human injury or death.
In California,, where the hunting of mountain lions was stopped,, it was very predictable that there will be more encounters between humans & mountain lions.
With the human population growing,, and the available land being reduced all over,, animals can & will adapt. They move into places where humans live & then,, when a human gets hurt,, the very same Disney educated types make all kinds of excuses for the animals, AND even worse,, STILL do all they can to protect the animals over the humans.
A couple of times I've had discussions about allowing more hunting opportunities for bear in Buncombe Co. NC,, with these types,, I've used a common phrase often used against gun owners. I say; "Well,,, if it'll save just one life,, isn't it worth it?" Boy,, they do NOT know how to answer THAT challenge.
In this case & others,, it's often the simple fact that the animal felt a human would be an easy prey and chose to attack. Or in other cases,, encounters are a simple protection event by an animal against what they perceive as a threat, and they attack.
Until ALL humans accept the fact that we need a balance of things,, based upon facts & science,, NOT DISNEY,, and use common sense approaches to fixing things,, we'll see more of these types of events.