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Meet a bear
It can happen to you, though very very rarely, that you meet brown bears in European forest, namely the Alpine region, Northern Italy, Switzerland, some years ago even Bavaria.
The swiss authorities made a program, or better an advisory text named "Konzept Bär", where they laid down in text how people should behave when they meet a brown bear. In this German news they get quoted with recommending that people lay flat on the ground and don't move, the bear will approach and examine them, understand that they do not pose a threat to him, and leave. ??? I would do that when meeting a wolf: freeze and see what happens. But a bear...? I follow where they say not to just turn and run, but to slowly retreat. I would even consider to hold my position. But laying on the ground and letting him sniff my threat potential out? I surely wouldn't desire to do that with ice bears or grizzlies. Don't know about brown bears, though. Also I question the wisdom with regard to people'S self control and discipline in such a situation where potentially plenty of adrenaline and fear is involved. I probbaly would play a game of stop and slowly retreat, if possible, and if he does not give up interest and approaches, would try to intimdate and surprise him by becoming loud in yelling, throwing things at him and "attack" him with anything I find in sticks and stones. Laying flat on the ground - what if he is curious to see what happens if he bites just for fun, or gives we a swing with his prank because I'm just laying in his path? Or he is insecure due to my alieness and attacks for that reason? |
I think the first thing many of us would do before any of the above is fill our pants :DL
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Kidding ..:DL. . |
Or you could just do this.
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The guy sure hadn't read "Konzept Bär" :DL . |
LOL :DL
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Sky, Sky, Sky, so young and so suicidal....;)
First of all, Grizzlies and brown bears are the same. There is a brown bear population on Kodiak Island which is sometimes considered its own subspecies, as they are are extremely huge due to ideal natural conditions there. The smaller bears in North America would be the black bears - those are the ones where you could have a chance to fight and/or flight. I have seen signs in state parks inhibited by both which differentiate between what to do when attacked by either of them. Though it's not always easy for a layman to tell the difference between them, especially under pressure, the color of the fur is no clear indication, as it greatly varies. The standard recommendation to get on the ground and lay on your stomach when attacked is for the reason to protect your inner organs - usually you should also put your hands around yopur neck to protect it. You can't outrun a bear, you are the worse climber and the worse fighter. The chaces are great that you will never see a bear, as usually they smell you before you have a chance to see them. You are in their living room, and usually they want to know what's going on and usually avoid humans - not their prey scheme. What makes a meeting between Mr Bear and Mr Human dangerous is when the bear gets either surprised by your presence or when it's a bear that relates humans and food - the latter would be the so called problem bears, usually bears who lost their shyness against humans, could be bears who were fed by them, or bears who plundered from human setlements. I had a co-worker from Ontario, who told me the best place to watch bears in his hometown was the dump :DL. So avoiding bears by making sounds is the most recommended solution - the locals in Alaska tell that the bears over there love to hear poems by Lord Byron, in abundance of wisdom about those, I noticed that German Schlager also works :D Trying to intimidate a bear is a bad idea - this is his game, and that's where he is good at. For example, if he stands on two legs can be a sign of this. Another intimidation method would be a charge at you wheree he stops some meters in front of you. That's why it would be terrible to try to yell at him or throw rocks in this moment. What makes the meeting between a human and a bear often dangerous is that these creatures have only limited body language. You can't really tell anything from his face, other indicators can have different meanings, so it's nearly impossible to tell what he wants from this. So the best way is to slowly retreat, out of his path, out of the comfort zone of the bear. Don't turen you back on him (prey) don't stare into his eyes (danger). You can speak silently to him. For worst case scenarios you can carry bear spray, it is a pepper spray in a huge-ass container. Don't know if it's stronger than normal one (I doubt it), but the portion size is the right one for a bear. In Germany, the correcponding size would be the 0.5 - 2l "family-size" containers which you can buy here. Oh, and I love those big teddies, that's why I wrote so much about it, they are amazing creatures, though I would never let my guard down when I see them. |
Hand over your pickernick basket and you'll be fine...
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Apropos „problem bear“:
Kurt Beck, German Social Democrat politician, did not like this „Titanic Magazin“ title page: http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8839/problembr.jpg Caption: Problem bear gone wild: Pick off the beast! |
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Pepper spray might be good, but I'm starting to like the idea of a can of Wasp & Hornet spray - 30-foot range, solid stream, accurate and extremely nasty to anything it hits in the face. I recently read about its use as a home-defense weapon, and it should work on bigger predators as well. |
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European Brown bear: Ursus arctos arctos American Brown bear: Grizzly bear: Ursus arctos horribiles Kodiak bear: Ursus arctos middendorffi In america, brownbears are either Grizzlies or Kodiaks. "Brownbears" usually mean the European variant. On intimidating bears: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57VbE0J9niw I do not find it again, but we have had videos two or three years ago showing bears being chased up trees by small puppies since the puppies behaved different from the normal scheme of behavior bears are used to. It'S this what I was wondering about: is a brownbear intimidated or enraged when being confronted with a behavior pattern that he is not used to? Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) have a reputation to be very aggressive and easily go on the attack if they meet something unfamiliar. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are notoriously hungry due to the harsh environment they live in, with little prey, so their curiosity also can easily make them aggressive, plus they have one of the most excellent noses in the whole animal kingdom. Brownbears on the other hand are said to be a mixed bag in their reaction to unforseen meetings and events, can be shy, can be aggressive. Probably due to the things you listed. That's why I start wondering whether the Swiss really are wise with their recommendations. |
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Now this caught me by surprise, so I bursted! |
Bears are bears. Even the smaller black bear will happily rip your face off if it wants to. Bring a (large caliber) gun when you go into the woods and you need not fear them.
Oh and never forget the old saying: "You don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the person you're with. :DL |
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