Finding Wilderness

Archive for the ‘Bears’ Category

A bear that had been trained to ice skate as part of a Russian circus has attacked and killed a circus director, while wearing skates.  These types of attacks are sad, for the humans as well as the bears (this one was shot and killed).  And they are not particularly rare, given the relatively small number of people who have trained animals.  We regularly see videos and photos of people who have trained large carnivores, and consider them safe.  They are not.

This  post is in response to someone who read my page on how to fight back when you  have been unable to avoid an encounter.  Her question:

The advice to go in groups and make noise is of course primary in importance and good to be reminded of.  I have a question, though: While fortunately I’ve never seen a bear on any backcountry hike, what would a group of two or four people do who– while hiking along a trail– come upon a bear several yards in the distance? In other words, maybe the bear is not right there at you, but close enough that he sees you a little ways away? Do you quickly turn and walk back to the trailhead? Do you run? Do you walk backward while facing said bear so you know what he’s doing at all times? Would love to hear your take on this.

First off,  as far as I know it is still true that there is no instance of a bear killing a human in a group of five or more people.  Hiking with a group is clearly safer.

If your group confronts a bear that hasn’t charged yet, the best thing is to gather together if possible.  The idea is to look like a large animal.  Bears do the same thing to each other.  If they don’t want to fight they turn sideways to look larger and avoid eye contact with the other bear.  Raise packs, jackets, arms — anything to make yourselves look larger.  Avoid eye contact and back slowly away.

Some people have theorized that the large orange cloud of a pepper spray blast may be a visual deterrent to a bear.  It’s hard to say if this is true.   Others have speculated  that a large rapidly inflating balloon may be an effective method to scare a bear off.

If everyone in your group has an accessible can of pepper spray, I think the odds of cutting short a bear attack without serious injury are very high.  In most cases where pepper spray has failed, it is because the victim doesn’t get it out in time or they miss on the first blast and deplete their can.  If a bear gets to one person in the group, I have to think that a coordinated rush by the others with full cans of pepper spray would be pretty effective.

I follow bear attacks because I am interested in learning how to avoid them.  A few days ago a women was killed by her own “pet” bear.  It’s a useful reminder that bears, especially those in the wild, are amoral, dangerous creatures.  Sometimes people who love nature tend to anthropomorphize dangerous animals in their writings, as if the bears give a hang about us one way or another.

Here is the gist of the information in the the Metro news clip, where I picked it up.

Kelly Ann Walz was stepping into Teddy’s cage to clean it – something she had done hundreds of times before – when the 158kg (350lb) animal turned on her and attacked.

Her young children and those of neighbour Scott Castone witnessed the horror and called for help. Mr Castone arrived to find the bear straddling Mrs Walz and shot it dead.

. . .

Mrs Walz, 37, and her husband had kept several dangerous animals as pets at their home near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, since the 1990s.