Grizzly Bear Notice

"In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear conflicts, the Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the field. We advise that outdoors men wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise outdoors men to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoors men should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear droppings. Black bear droppings are smaller and contain lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them and smell like pepper."

Kyle at work sent me this.

There are no Grizzly's around here so no worries but if you live in Calgary or Alaska this probably isn't so funny, though in reality I think Grizzly's rarely play with people either. Received wisdom when confronted with an angry grizzly is to get on all fours and expected to be patted around a bit - you'll probably survive. With Black Bears, in the rare event that they come at you, you need to make yourself look big, make noise (metal on metal is good), punch, hit them with anything, throw stones or whatever. If you see a mountain lion and it takes a dislike to you, make yourself look big and abandon all hope. Don't planning on outrunning these animals, if you run they have a 'catch-it' instinct and they are faster. Don't plan on climbing trees either (though I think if it's a grizzly it might be worth it).

Some of that received wisdom is semi-serious but in reality very very few such animal encounters have occured in the last 100 years (I think 10 mountain lion attacks in California in 100 years, most in the 1990s though).

So, there you have the bear necessities. My advice, just sing a lot, my John Denver songs seem to 'fill up their senses' and keep bears away.

Philip Greenspun has some excellent photos of bears in his famous story 'Travel's with Samantha', like this one

I'm going to hear Philip talk in San Francisco on 8th November at BayChi. I'm really impressed with his guide to web publishing and his simple approach to websites with GREAT photos.