When Man Becomes Prey: Fatal Encounters with North America's Most Feared Predators

by Cat Urbigkit

When Man Becomes Prey examines the details of fatal predator attacks on humans, providing an opportunity to learn about the factors and behaviors that led to attacks. The predators profiled in the book include black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and gray wolves--the first time all five species have been included in one volume­. Compelling narratives of conflicts involving these top predators are accompanied by how-to information for avoiding such clashes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Survival, Nature, Animals, Natural History

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2014

About the author

Cat Urbigkit writes books for both children and adults from a working ranch in western Wyoming. Involved in journalism for more than two decades, Urbigkit focuses on the domestic and wild animals that share the same range in western Wyoming. She is also co-owner and editor of The Shepherd, a national sheep industry magazine, and is a columnist for Cowboy State Daily.

Reviews

[Natalie Robb · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was over simplistic and biased towards hunting as the only answer. The author hardly mentions altering human behavior to avoid attacks.
Some of the science cited here is cherry picked. She makes a case for more hunting to prevent lion attacks but science also shows that high pressure hunting of lions creates a denser and younger population that is responsible for more attacks. She touches on management that aims towards preserving older toms with larger territories with lesser and targeted hunting pressure but she doesnt connect the two.
This book does a lot of repeating itself and reads like a 8th grade textbook. There are much better books on wildlife attacks out there. Mark of the Grizzly is one.
Also its not wild-life. The word is wildlife.

[Margy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll definitely be going to Cabelas and getting an air horn and bear spray before our next hike or camping trip!

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read Cat Urbigkit's chapter in the book The Real Wolf: The Science, Politics, and Economics of Co-Existing with Wolves in Modern Times Paperback by Ted B. Lyon and Will N. Graves and I was impressed with her knowledge and background on the emotional and political subject of wolves. Since I live in a remote area of North West Montana where all five of the large North American predators, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, mountain lions, and coyotes reside I was especially keen to read this book of hers as soon as it became available. It is an excellent collection of accounts that goes beyond simply describing what happened. Ms. Urbigkit explains what factors contributed to each attack. She explains that these predators must continue to be hunted and that individual predators who no longer fear humans and have come to see them as prey must be eliminated. Perhaps most important of all she concisely explains how best to avoid disastrous encounters and should you be attacked, what is likely to be your best course of action in order to survive the attack. Since I both hike with dogs and ride my horse in the wilderness it was a bit disconcerting to read of mountain lion attacks on mounted riders, but now at least I have a better understanding of predator behavior and my best methods of protecting myself. As another reviewer commented, this book is a must read if you go out in the woods. I would add, now that some of these predators are seen even in suburban areas, that this is an important book for most anyone to read so they can understand the very negative impact of misguided efforts to protect and expand these predator populations.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you're going to be out in the woods. The author details behavior patterns of bears, wolves, coyotes and big cats, and gives sound advice on what to do if you encounter one of these animals, and how to avoid conflict.
Well written and concise--I'm giving a copy to my friends who hike and/or live in areas with large predators as neighbors.

[DIANA MOORE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valuable Information

This should be required reading for every person in the U S and Canada! People have become cavalier about predator species. We live in a small community about 20 miles from MT Rainier and my son-in-law was mocked and derided when he posted on the community bulletin board that he spotted a large black bear near the town limits in broad daylight. People thought he was being over alarmist just for posting a notice. This attitude is helping to perpetuate the type of encounters described in this book. I would like to thank the author for providing this valuable information to the public.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very well researched and relatively well written, but it’s so boring. It mainly features detailed lists of animal attacks in North America, as if the author is trying to prove a point that the attacks really do happen. It gave some good information on avoiding attacks, but I felt the main emphasis was on documenting all the different attacks, which led to the content being rather dry.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent wake up call

What predators live near you? I can hear coyotes at night and l know there are mountain lions not far away. I am now aware that bears can and do live coast to coast, and border to border. Wake up! Read this book, Americans. Some of these top five predators are moving into urban areas as well. Well worth my time.

[Jayme Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative

If you are interested in why animals attack, this book is a must read. There are a lot of stories about actual attacks, and what wildlife managers are doing to prevent them from happening.

[GuruDya Kaur Khalsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

feeding wild animals kills humans

Bear spray is the best defense against predictor animals if you must be in that area. If you see a predictor animal in your area it should be killed to protect children and adults

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, but the editing... editors must have gotten caught up in the story.

[Neal Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well documented book describing what the title says

[Mark Binsted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its became fairly obvious that the author is anti predator. Keep that in mind if you read this book. This book falls flat quoting over used rhetoric.

[T · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no objectivity in this book. She has a view and it is pro-hunting.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Man Becomes Prey: Fatal Encounters With North America's Most Feared Predators by Cat Urbigkit (Lyons Press 2014) (591.5). Author Cat Urbigkit has written a book about the dangers posed to mankind by North America's most prominent predators: Grizzly bears, black bears, grey wolves, mountain lions, and coyotes. She writes not from a sensationalist or alarmist perspective but instead from a position of one who seeks to minimize dangerous forms of predator - human interaction. For instance, she demarcates various bear – human conflicts as either being predatory attacks (which are the most dangerous types of interaction and which almost always result in the removal of the predatory animal from the gene pool by the authorities, defensive attacks (the protection of cubs, a food cache, or surprise encounters), and bluff charges. She considers the issue of habituation at great length, and she ultimately concludes that effectively disseminated pepper spray is the best protection one can have from any of the aggressive North American predators. She cites a study which concludes that a human-bear encounter in which pepper spray is deployed results in little harm to the human in 98% of cases, whereas a human who uses a firearm to defend against a bear attack is likely to suffer great harm in 50% of cases. The takeaway: learn to properly use pepper spray and always carry it when in predator country or else stay home. My rating: 7/10, finished 4/20/17. I purchased my PB copy at McKay's Books on 4/14/17 for $1.50. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Miki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a compilation of horror stories about large predators wreaking havoc on poor puny humans. It's a very good report on the growing problem of predators vs humans, and why it's happening. True, there are accounts of incidences involving attacks but the gory details are omitted in favor of explanations of why the attacks happened.

[Mike Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very well written and I thought I knew this material well, but I learned some things.

[Will Harrub · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terrible, but certainly not overly interesting or entertaining either. I was looking for more vivid, real-life stories rather than an informational or more factual based book. To each his own.