Bear spray is showing up at protests and riots. Here’s why, and how it affects humans. (2024)

Whether Sicknick’s death is related to bear spray or not, news reports from around the United States and Canada show that it is increasingly being used as a weapon against humans rather than for its intended purpose: to protect hikers, campers and backcountry workers from bears.

Bear spray has been employed in a wide range of assaults, including personal attacks, fights, carjackings, protests and now riots, a news database search shows. Its use in brawls in Canada dates back at least to the mid-1990s in British Columbia; one of its first reported uses at a protest appears to have occurred during a Group of 20 summit in Toronto in 2010; and by 2017, it was being wielded by anti-Trump protesters in Berkeley, Calif. It also was among the items confiscated during the 2020 Portland, Ore., riots, and is believed to have been used by the Capitol rioters.

Bear spray is “probably a weapon of choice because it’s more powerful, more pressurized, sprays longer distance [than standard pepper spray], and is easily available at outdoor sites and stores,” said Sven Eric Jordt, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Duke University who studies the use of pepper sprays. The U.S. Capitol Police, FBI and D.C. police declined to comment on the use of bear spray as a weapon in general or about its use in the Jan. 6 riot. Here is what I learned from several experts on the issue.

According to Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, bear spray is a type of pepper spray, with an active ingredient — capsaicin — that’s derived from chile peppers. When sprayed into the face of a person or bear, capsaicin inflames the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and lungs, causing temporary loss of sight, nasal congestion, and, in some, difficulty breathing, Rizzo says.

That said, bear deterrent and self-defense pepper sprays have some important differences: Most bear sprays boast a capsaicin content of 2 percent, compared with 1.2 to 1.4 percent in most self-defense products, according to the nonprofit BearWise. The strength of peppers is measured in Scoville heat units, or SHUs, which is the number of cups of sugar water it would take to fully neutralize the spice. A habanero pepper, among the hottest out there, has roughly 200,000 SHUs. Standard pepper sprays have around 1 million SHUs, while bear sprays pack 3 million SHUs, so it’s about three times as potent as the self-defense products.

It’s also dispensed more widely and forcefully, the experts agreed. Bear deterrents dispense in a fog pattern — vs. the stream output of many pepper sprays — making it more likely that the capsaicin will get into an aggressive animal’s eyes, nose and throat. Bear sprays are also pressurized to travel farther — 30 to 35 feet — than the smaller self-defense products.

Bear spray costs $30 to $50 for an eight- to 10-ounce can.

When used properly on an aggressive bear, capsaicin deterrents are extremely effective. In a study of incidents in Alaska, bear spray effectively “deterred undesirable behavior” more than 90 percent of the time, according to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a federal and state government initiative to help bear populations recover in western North America. In 72 incidents where bear spray was dispensed, involving 175 people, only three people were harmed, none seriously, that study found.

Chris Servheen, a bear biologist and former grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the effect of capsaicin deterrents on bears is “debilitating and painful, and that changes the whole course of the bear’s behavior; he was interested in you and now he can’t see or smell anymore, and that allows you to get away.” Servheen is among many experts who favor bear sprays over firearms to repel a charging animal. “The spray teaches avoidance of humans without killing the bear, so the behavior can then be passed along,” both through rearing of cubs and genetically, he said. Sure, it’s very painful to the bruin, “but it’s a lot better than being shot.”

If the user is cautious, however, the spray might not be necessary.For example, if you’re in the backcountry in thick brush, or walking into the wind or near a stream where the sound of running water might mask your approach, Servheen recommends talking loudly or occasionally clapping. “If a bear knows you’re coming, in most cases, he won’t want anything to do with you.” Servheen said he always carries spray when in bear country, but, in decades of hiking and field work, has never had to use it.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulates bear spray as a pesticide, with an agency-mandated warning label that states, in part, “HAZARDS TO HUMANS: May cause irreversible physical eye damage if sprayed in the eye at close range. Contact through touching or rubbing eyes may result in substantial but temporary eye injury. Strongly irritating to nose and skin. Avoid contact with skin or clothing.”

An EPA spokesperson said the agency isn’t aware of any human deaths from bear repellents and has only two bear-spray incidents in its database. In a case from December 2018, a robot accidentally punctured a can of bear repellent in an online retailer’s distribution warehouse, resulting in the hospitalization of 24 employees. All were released within 24 hours. The other incident occurredin 1972, when a father sprayed his son with bear deterrent during an argument.

Rizzo, of the American Lung Association, said bear and other pepper sprays are “topically related irritants” that temporarily affect people’s ability to see and breathe freely. When bear spray or standard pepper spray is used on people, those symptoms typically self-resolve in 10 to 20 minutes, Rizzo said. However, he added, “there have been reports of pepper sprays causing bronchospasms or wheezing, so if you have asthma or COPD [and get sprayed], you might need an inhaler” to recover.

Although Rizzo believes that it’s conceivable that someone with a preexisting respiratory condition could die if, for example, they went into a severe asthma attack after inhaling bear spray, he said he was not aware of any deaths associated with bear spray or pepper spray.

Duke University’s Jordt, however,pointed to several incidents of prisoners or people in police custody dying from what appeared to be asthmatic reactions to pepper spray. “I’ve been concerned about the increasing use of pepper bombs and sprays by police; this isn’t harmless,” he said. He declined to discuss how much of a threat bear spray could pose to humans, other than noting that someone hit with bear spray would receive a higher dose of capsaicin than someone who was pepper sprayed.

Bear spray is sold widely online and in outdoors stores in the United States — with no restrictions. In Canada, you must be at least 18 to buy bear spray, and it may be sold only by authorized vendors who maintain proper sales records, including a purchaser’s name and address, the amount purchased and a signed agreement that stipulates the legal uses of the product and liability.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee emphasizes the dangers of bear spray in an FAQ on its website: “Treat bear spray exactly as you would a loaded handgun,” it reads. “Bear spray in your face causes involuntary eye closure and pain for up to 45 minutes. At very close range, the pressure can cause permanent eye damage.”

Briley is a writer based in Takoma Park, Md. His website isjohnbriley.com.