Wolf/Bear encounters?

In the forest areas in Pennsylvania, encounters with black bears are very common. Hikers meet them on the trails and backpackers and campers, meet them head-to head, as they tear up tents or rip up truck bed covers searching for food. Even those who hang their food supplies up in the air often meet up with bears who have raided campsites before and knowingly come back looking for more food, as they have no fear of humans.

I have watched youtube video's of people who have filmed the bears and foolishly approached these bears in a attempt to get the perfect shot. Black bears, as well as, any wild creature can be dangerous and deadly, if they feel threatened. The forestry department warns people to not approach the bears and to not feed the bears.

I think to many people see tv shows of wild animals that are raised in cages or appear to be fun loving gentle creatures and they totally forget that the animal is wild. When I worked on a wildlife farm in Florida, I saw people do the dumbest things with wild cage raised tigers and cougars, I guess thinking them tame because they were hand raised. Wild is always wild, forget it and you might not live long.

Anyways, meeting a wild animal is always amazing and it is easy to get lost in the beauty of the moment. I have seen many such animals at a distance and admired them from a distance. Not sure what I would do if I met one on the trail, other then to make a lot of noise and hope it left the area. What would you do?

 

How To Survive A Bear Attack!

 

I liked the humor of it and I found it on youtube. So Esperahol, thanks for sharing another link. Usually a black bear will not attack unless you get between her and her baby's. We had a mama bear with cubs wander into our town the other day and the police and game commission were trying to figure out the best way to get them off main street and back to the woods. They finally had to call in for extra help to catch the mama bear and then round up the three cubs. Most times they come into town to get into peoples garbage cans.

My friends who walk in the woods and have seen bears have never had a aggressive encounter. Most times the bear wanders off in a different direction. I have always been told it was the grizzles that would maul or kill people quicker than a black bear. But it maybe different in other areas of the country and world.

 

The coyotes we have here were brought in by the game commission to control the deer herds, they kill the young fawns. But again they created another reason to keep the public out of the woods. So far I have not heard of any reports of anyone being attacked but the chance is more so as the years go on and the coyotes breed more. It increases the chance of rabies as well.

 

I found a few bear attack video's that show these animals up close and personal in Yellowstone National Park. I don't know about you but I would be very afraid of running into one of these big boys out on the trail or even sitting in my car. Watch these video's and please comment on them.

 

If your laying on the ground and a bear walks by it may decide your food or just play with your body by batting it around and chewing on you a bit. A black bear might leave you alone if your quiet and don't move, but there is no telling what a grizzly bear might do.

Feign death generally means curling up in a ball and trying to protect your head and neck, and chest area from attack. I think it would be very hard for anyone getting bitten to not cry out. The best defense is not to be in that mess in the first place. Don't feed bears or try getting close to take pictures, and you will lessen the chance of a bear using you for lunch.

 

I was talking with some friend's who had gone camping this past week. They had found a bunch of berries and decided to cook up a blueberry cobbler. The cobbler was yummy, but they had left-overs which were put in their cooler in their pickup truck.

It is my understanding that a bear broke the back window of their truck to get into the cooler, plus he destroyed their cap on the back of the truck. This was in a regularly used campground. They said the rangers put in bear-proof dumpsters to keep the bears from spreading garbage around, so now the bears are a big threat to campers who try to keep food out of the bear's paws but are not having much luck. Plus the bears are getting into tents and tearing up campsites.

There is a big concern about how long this goes on until someone gets hurt or killed, as these bears have no fear of man. What do you think about this?

 

A friend of mine has an idea that this odd behavior in bears, as well as, other animals maybe the results of them eating corn and other GMO crops. He says animals that have not been aggressive before are now acting out in different ways. I know of people that feed bears in town, just to have them come into their yard. Also bears and campgrounds have always been a problem, but breaking windows and ripping off truck bed covers is a whole new ballgame. It seems the Game & Forestry Commission are always planting something for wildlife and this could be part of the problem. If GMO food is not good for people to consume then think of the effect that these crops could be having on wildlife.

Had a chance today to test the behavior of a bear. Another friend invited me to go blackberry picking with her. She had been picking and thought I would like some as well. As we were walking up the forest path up in the woods along the trail, something (bear) slide down out of a high tree and disappeared into the woods. Nothing bothered us as we continued up the trail to a spot that had been clear cut and grown up thick with blackberries. My friend had her German sheppard dog with her. we were picking berries and talking when suddenly we heard something big barreling through the bush toward us. Branches were breaking and twigs a snapping. I yelled out very loud "hey bear go away, get out of here" and my friend yelled as well. The bear stopped and turned away and left us alone. We figured it got a scent of the dog too. We stayed and picked more berries. Figured it was a baby that had slid down the tree and when mom bear came around it smelled us and came running. This time yelling at the bear and making noise did the trick.