** Reply to note from Chris Hill


>
> On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Don Baccus wrote:
>
> >
> > > Fortunately, that rarely happens. As for black
> > >bears, I've read somewhere that their ability to produce large amounts of
> > >saliva prevents capsicum from having any major effect.
> >
> > Since black bears mostly bluff and (in the statistic sense) rarely hurt or
> > kill folks, if you're in grizzly country worry about griz.
>
> A friend who was a ranger in a National Park in California said that
> standard ranger protocol for getting Black Bears out of campgrounds was to
> kick the bear. I guess it's different if you get between a mother and her
> cubs, but in general, black bears are not a big threat.

I stress that one cannot generalize. Different populations of black bears behave differently. If you
tried this with the wild blacks of n.e. BC, you would be toast.

- Jack

------------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca