On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Don Baccus wrote:
>> >> 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.

>On Sun, 22 Feb 1998 Jack Bowling wrote: >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.>

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Kicking bears in an NP campground? Either he was pulling your leg or
was a victim of a mauling. After sows with cubs the most dangerous
black bears around are bears that are used to being around people - the
fear factor is gone and they view people as "automatic feeders". For
many years my aunt and uncle lived in Yosemite Valley, next to a large
abandoned apple orchard that still produced a lot
of apples. Several times every year STUPID TOURISTS would get into
trouble trying to feed the cute little bears. Not killed mind you, but
charged or roughed up. Bears would also regularly break into houses and
raid refrigerators or freezers.

Bears are also smart. My aunt was unloading groceries from her car
(parked right next to the house) and in between trips she answered the
phone. After a minute or two she heard a commotion outside. She went
out to check to find that a black bear had climbed into her brand new
Buick to get at the groceries....and a REALLY STUPID TOURIST , in a
panic, had closed the car door on the bear!! The
bear got out by ripping through the side panel of the door and literally
tearing off the door.

Any animal that weighs 150-600 lbs and has big teeth and sharp claws
deserves a great deal of respect.

Rob Conway
Bellevue, WA

robin_conway at hotmail.com


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