Date:         Wed, 18 Aug 2004 11:24:32 -0400
Reply-To:     Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Subject:      Re: bears burgling for food?
Comments: To: alan sinclair <anadem@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <fc71b1a9040817234266eac141@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Alan,

Every year, at Westies in the Woods here in New Jersey, a park ranger comes
to the campsite to sternly give the standard warning:

         "We have a lot of black bears in this area. Never leave any food
out, keep it all locked in your trunk... never keep *any* food in your tent!".

At this point, someone in the crowd clears their throat and glances
significantly at one of the obviously-trunk-free tent-with-wheels westies...

I know this is just immaturity on my part... but I do enjoy the look of
thwarted authority that briefly crosses each ranger's face at this point.

So far, the NJ park service has failed to come up with a way to store food
in these vehicles without keeping it in our tents, but I'm sure a large
portion of my tax dollars is at work on this problem as we speak.

Tim

At 11:42 PM 8/17/2004 -0700, alan sinclair wrote:
>In places that have bears, warning signs say not to keep any food in
>the car, with photos of vehicles which have been "can-opened" by
>bears.
>
>How do list members handle this problem?  How do we keep bears out of
>our '81 westie bedroom?  It wouldn't be fun to wake to a burgling
>bear, nor to have a door pulled off.
>
>thanks for any advice
>Alan
>(off to the Sierras in a day or two, and hoping to keep food on-board)