Travelling safely in bear country
Although incidents with bears are rare, the key is to avoid confrontations by learning some simple rules of etiquette in the outdoors. A good source of information is the book, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero. Some tips are:
- Before your trip let people know where you are going and when you expect to return
- Be on the alert for bear signs such as droppings, stripped bark on trees, rotten logs which have been torn up, diggings where vegetation and soil have been disturbed and food sources such as berry patches and carcasses.
- Travel in the daylight in groups of six or more, and leave untrained dogs at home since such an animal might harass a bear.
- Make plenty of noise to avoid startling a bear, particularly where visibility is poor or near a loud running stream.
- Cosmetics should not be worn and strong smelling food should not be carried as bears have a keen sense of smell.
- Menstruating women should wear internal protection and carry used tampons in a plastic bag until they can be disposed of safely.
- Never approach bear cubs or place yourself between a cub and its protective mother.
- When camping, never store or eat food in your tent.
- Never leave food accessible to a bear. It should be stored 100 m away from your tent suspended in a tree at least 5 m from the ground and well away from the tree trunks since black bears can climb trees.
- Don't wear clothes in the tent that you have been cooking in. Put them in plastic bags.
- Burn all tin cans and food scraps after each meal and pack out all garbage from your campsite. Never bury garbage.
- Never feed a bear.
Wilderness hikers unknowingly find themselves in a dangerous situation. At this point the bear is curious. Had it crouched and laid back its cars the people in the ravine would likely have faced at least a bluff charge. Photo credit: Mark Newman photo
This may seem like a long list of rules, but following these suggestions will keep hikers safer and hopefully prevent bears from being killed because they've become a nuisance.
Hikers often ignore warning signs such as this one. To do so can be dangerous, particularly if the bear being warned about is a mother grizzly with a cub. Photo credit: Parks Canada
In the even that precautions fail and you are attacked by a bear, the following suggestions have been the most successful.
- A bear rearing up on its hind legs is probably taking a more careful sniff to make certain of who you are. The signs of an attack are growling, with ears laid back.
- Running or waving of the arms will only provoke a bear.
- If the bear is close, back away slowly, talking as calmly as possible, towards a tree or behind rocks or into a gully. Do not do anything suddenly.
- Should a charge by a grizzly be unavoidable, protect your stomach, thighs and neck by lying down on the ground in a hunched position with knees drawn up to the chest and hands clasped over your neck. The bear may try to maul you but it will do less damage if you can manage to lie still. Usually the bear will retreat immediately after the attack. If you are being attacked by a black bear, which is very rare in the wild, it is best to fight back because such an attack is probably the result of the bear deciding to make a meal out of you.
