Pattern of bear maul maxillofacial injuries in Kashmir

Abstract

ObjectiveBears are strong and agile wild animals that defend themselves, their young ones and their territory, if they feel threatened. Conflicts between humans and bears are common in bear-prevalent areas of the world. Our valley, which is surrounded all around by forests, is a habitat for black bears (U. thiabetanus) only. Maulings inflicted by these black bears are catastrophic events and such attacks have increased considerably in the recent past due to merciless deforestation. The rising incidences of such attacks, especially in maxillofacial region, have urged our department to undertake a study of such attacks and injuries.Materials and Methods:The present study is both a retrospective and prospective study of 200 patients of bear maulings who were admitted and treated in the Department of OMFS, Govt. Dental College, Srinagar, from January 2005 to October 2009.Results:Majority of the patients were from villages. Most of them belonged to fourth decade and majority was males. Black bears only were involved in all the encounters. Claws, paws and combination of both, were the used for attack. In majority of cases, no defense was used for the termination of attack. All the patients had soft tissue injury, deep lacerations, facial viscera, eyes, salivary glands and facial nerve commonly involved.

Pattern of bear maul injuries in tertiary hospital in Nepal: demographic, management and outcome

“…Comparable supportive findings are seen in study from Kashmir where all cases were stable in ER, 92.80% of attacks were a result of sudden encounters, 6.71% were provoked ones and 0.47% was from predatory encounters that lead to 2.39% mortality in 200 cases. 4 Similar findings of more stable patients and low mortality have been reported in other studies. 5,12 A review of 500 black bear attacks reports only three fatalities.…”

“…9 As per the habitat of the bear, all the attacks were by sloth bears in Nagpur and by black bear in the Himalayan ranges. 5,4 In contrast, bear mauls were more commonly by the grizzly in the west, as found in Alaska and Alberta. 10,11 All victims were hemodynamically stable when received in ER and we had no mortalities in the study.…”

“…4 Majority of the victims are male and of young age group with mean age of 37 yrs. This result is similar to the findings reported in studies from Kashmir, Central India, Canada and Alaska.…”

“…This result is similar to the findings reported in studies from Kashmir, Central India, Canada and Alaska. [4][5][6][7][8] This can be explained on the basis of more outdoor activity of males and youths in our society than females and elderly. Especially while visits to forest to collect firewood.…”

“…Predatory attacks are defined as the ones where the bear clearly treats its victim as a food source. 4 Reports regarding the pattern of injuries caused by bears in humans are scarce in literature, though much has been written on bears, their attacks with various case reports and methods of prevention from such attacks. This study is conducted to assess and describe pattern and severity of the injuries sustained due to bear maul and to emphasize the permanent damage they cause.…”