> Clearcutting isn't the problem.

Going from no bear problem to "a rate of up to ten per day" in a few weeks is not normal. Unless the town had been carefully securing their garbage for years and suddenly, unilaterally stopped, there is some outside factor driving bears into town.

> Not sitting on benches near piles of food is very practical.

See above. They were roaming all over the town.

> Not walking your CAT in bear country is too.

I'm sorry, your words were: "That's basically all you need to know. An large old mammal tied to a smaller mammal = bear lunch." You're saying that people shouldn't take any animal out on a leash, ever. That's not reasonable.

You're also ignoring the fact that neither the cat nor its owner were attacked. The first victim, as it happens, was walking a dog, which the bear ignored.

I never said anything about them being attacked. The fact that an old person was walking a cat so casually is evidence of a lack of bear awareness. It is evidence of a community acting in a manner that encourages bad bear behaviours. I live in bear country (BC). I see them almost every day. Seniors and others with with diminished mobility are encouraged not to walk alone wherever bears may be active. Sitting quietly is also a bad idea. People are told to make noise, to make their active presence known. Many hikers go so far as to carry "bear bells", even "bear bangers", to ensure bears don't become habituated. And bears eat cats all the time. A cat on a leash is like a popsicle on a stick to a bear.

How are you still missing the point that bears were not previously in this region that's what the entire story is about

Isn't the idea that, it wasn't bear country before that point?

That is, there weren't bears going in the town?