Although it may appear that he's headed off, the Maine black bear comes right back to the compost pile. Even living in bear country, it is rare to see a black bear in the wild. Bears prefer it that way and, with good hearing and sense of smell, they generally know you're coming long before you could see them. A bear's first instinct is to run, whatever the intruder might be, but they often circle back to see what it was that they had run from. So if you should see a bear escaping into the brush, keep in mind that he may be watching you a few moments later. Bears have been known to attack humans, but it's not common. No black bear has ever killed a human being in the wild in Maine. In fact, nationwide, most attacks are from captive bears, or ones that live in artificial environments such as national parks or national forests, where they come to associate people with food.