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All Encounters Articles
ST. IGNATIUS - We all have horror stories about bad dates.
Andrew White and Dakota Peterson's story might just take the cake.
The two were hiking in the Mission Mountains Aug. 19 only to come 10 yards from a full-grown black bear.
After running from the bear for about 40 minutes, the two made it to their car, half-blind, out of breath and White shoeless, only to have left the keys in the backpack that was dropped at the beginning of the chase.
Wildlife officials in Canmore, Alta., say fewer bear sightings in the past week mean their efforts have been paying off.
Several residents had reported seeing grizzly bears in town in recent weeks.
Since then, officers have been cutting down berry bushes in the area and have set several traps.
"We're going to be continuing that control work in the next week or so," said Darcy Whiteside, of the province's Sustainable Resource Development department.
N. Conway Man Says He Startled Bear When He Threw Trash In Bin
NORTH CONWAY, N.H. -- A North Conway man needed 16 stitches after an encounter with a Dumpster-diving black bear during the weekend.
Jeff Allard said he was taking out the trash at his apartment complex Sunday night and didn't notice a bear rummaging inside the trash bin. Allard said he tossed his trash into the bin, startling the bear.
Despite recent high-profile attacks by grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area that have killed two people and left two others seriously injured, wildlife officials say human-bear encounters are not on the upswing, and that such events remain "very, very rare."
The most recent attacks occurred last week at a Gallatin National Forest campground east of Cooke City, Mont., near the northeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park (Land Letter, July 29).
Conservation officers had their hands full on Sunday (July 11) afternoon, responding to two consecutive calls involving bears that were overly habituated to humans.
In one of the cases, the bear was put down after "it stood on its hind legs and swatted" at an RCMP member, said Lower Mainland conservation officer, Alexandre Desjardins.
We started in Hope and were six miles in on the Resurrection Pass Trail. Kimi was in front with Kobi right behind her, followed by Kyle and myself. We were rounding a corner, and as I looked up Kimi was heading back our way. Ahead of us on the trail were a grizzly bear mama and her two cubs.
Mama started to charge us, and as she was running at us Kobi charged her, barking and growling up a storm. The bear stopped charging and was growling at Kobi, who was holding his ground several feet away. After a few seconds the bear went after Kobi, and he bolted around her and into the bushes, heading away from us. Mama chased, which gave us a few extra seconds of getaway time.
Bear mating season has grizzly bears doing what comes naturally, but what may seem odd to hikers in the area of the Skogan Pass, who witnessed the behaviour on Saturday.
Four hikers were making their way down a trail near Wind Valley when they saw a grizzly bear running down the same path. Since they thought it was coming towards them, they pulled out their bear spray and sprayed it when the bear was still 20 metres away from them.
A man recovers tonight after being mauled by a black bear at the Red River Gorge. Wildlife officials say Tim Scott of Springfield was walking on a trail near the Wolfe and Menifee County line around 2:30 p.m. Sunday when a black bear attacked him. Another hiker heard his shouts for help and threw a day pack at the bear--distracting it--allowing Scott to get away. Now, the search is on for that bear.
A Connecticut man has been charged with disturbing an animal in connection with a May 12 incident that led to the euthanization of a black bear after it bit him. The charge was filed in federal court in Knoxville.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers cited Sean Konover of Wilton, Conn. with the misdemeanor charge. According to information from the Park, Konover sustained a minor injury when he was bitten on the foot by the black bear while hiking the popular Laurel Falls Trail.
A B.C. filmmaker says he's lucky to be alive after narrowly avoiding a grizzly attack while filming in the Robson Valley, southeast of Prince George.
Leon Lorenz, who lives in Dunster, B.C., was filming grizzly bears in a nearby valley last Monday evening when he spotted a bear and her cub.
A Creston Valley man has bruises and stitch marks to prove how lucky he was last month. The unidentified male was attacked by a female grizzly bear on a Kootenay River dike on the Creston flats on May 21.
"He lives nearby and rides his bike on the dikes early in the morning," Creston conservation officer Arnold Deboon said on Friday. "He heard a rush of noise coming from behind and looked back to see a grizzly charging at him."
A longtime Alaskan says his dog probably saved his wife's life after a young grizzly bear charged her Sunday night by their home in the Eagle River canyon, near the nature center.
Michael Weiman, 64, scared the bear off with warning shots, then, when it returned, he shot and killed the bear, Anchorage police said.
FAIRBANKS--A backpacker shot and killed a grizzly bear Friday night in Denali National Park and Preserve, the first such incident within the park's original borders in decades and also the first since a February change in federal laws allowed licensed visitors to carry loaded guns in national parks, a parks spokeswoman said Sunday afternoon.
Parks biologists and rangers are investigating the case, trying to figure out whether the backpacker had justification for shooting the bear, said Kris Fister, a park spokeswoman. The parks service was withholding the hiker's name as of Sunday.
ISLAND PARK - Just in time for summer sun and outdoor adventures here and in other areas of Greater Yellowstone, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) has released bear avoidance and wildlife stewardship materials emphasizing bear safety techniques that can also be applied to other wildlife.
The Center for Wildlife Information (CWI), a non-profit organization headed by Chuck Bartlebaugh, coordinated the development of educational materials for the IGBC and their partners, which include state wildlife management agencies in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington, the Forest Service, Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the USGS Research.
The meaning of a recent court case in Wyoming is clear: you can't kill a grizzly just because you're frightened. 41-year-old Stephen Westmoreland shot a female grizzly last fall in Grand Teton National Park that showed no sign of aggression. He'd been gutting a deer and was "covered in animal blood," according to an OregonLive story, when he came across the bear feeding on a gut pile he'd seen earlier in the day. He shot it from 40 yards, afraid the griz might decide to attack him.
GATLINBURG - A black bear bit a man on the foot this week in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when the man got too close trying to take a photo, authorities said.
The man, whose name wasn't immediately available, let the bear get within inches of him Wednesday while hiking the Laurel Falls Trail, park spokeswoman Nancy Gray said. He didn't need treatment.
With bear season now upon us the time to start thinking about bear-proofing your property is now. Earlier this week there were reports of a blonde grizzly bear hanging around the Victoria and Davis Street area. On Tuesday, however, the local conservation officer, Peter Businc, was able to get out and spot the bear and confirm that it was a “scruffy” light brown colored black bear and not a grizzly bear as first thought by people who had spotted it.
In other bear-related news, the Rossland Bear Aware program has been brought back from the brink it found itself staring over earlier this year in large part due to the support of the Columbia Basin Trust. Facing uncertain funding year after year, the program looked as though it would drop down to a voluntary service rather than fully-funded program.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The grizzly took Jerry Ruth by surprise, bursting from thick brush and biting his jaw almost completely off.
On the ground and barely able to see, Ruth grabbed his .41 Magnum-caliber revolver and started shooting. The third bullet pierced the bear's heart and spinal cord, killing it from 25 feet.
Well, the bears are waking up in Glacier National Park. Since the start of the month there have been at least three separate track sightings, and at least one bruin was compelled to dig a hole in the Belly River area.
Tracks were spotted by visitors near Many Glacier and Lake McDonald, according to park officials.
“With these early March reports of bear activity, park visitors are reminded to be alert for bear activity and to be familiar with and comply with safety regulations," said Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright.
New Jersey’s black bear population has soared to nearly 3,500, a level that can no longer be controlled solely by non-lethal methods, a wildlife biologist said today as the state Fish and Game Council adopted a management policy recommending a six-day hunt in December.
The biologist, Patrick Carr, said the main reason for the growing population is the abundance of food state residents willingly and unwillingly provide. The result, he said, is that the bruins are living longer and giving birth to more cubs than bears in other parts of the country.
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