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Date:         Wed, 18 Aug 2004 21:23:16 -0500
Reply-To:     Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: bears burgling for food?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I used to be smug about this too until I read this from a local friend!

>ADVERTISEMENT

A bear broke into the Westy in Whistler. We had two Westies, mine and my father's, up in Whistler. Mine was in the garage and his parked immediately outside the condo unit door. It was a hot day and we had left the side windows open to prevent it from getting too hot inside. When we went down to the Westy in the morning, we found it terrorized by a bear.

Both screens were knocked in and broken, and two curtains shorn from their hooks. THe bear had obviously reached in with its long arm, looking for food. There were some dry goods (pasta, canned foods, etc.) in the compartment under the folding. The table, as a result, was torn from its moorings and the lid of said compartment bent up.

It is awesome to think of the strength of these creatures, how they can pull a table right out of its bolts at the end of their arm length reach inside a vehicle. Luckily the damage mostly stopped there. THe interior, aside from some minor scratches, was left unshredded. There are paw marks on the sides and glass, and some bear hair in the window, but we got off easy.

So, our lesson is that these camper vans are not safe from bear attacks, and we ought to be wary of where we parks them, and certainly not with the windows open when in bear territory. There are invariably more food smells in a Westy than an average vehicle, so it is best to take extra caution.

After asking around a bit in WHistler, apparently the bears know which cars to target, favouring mini-vans. They climb on the roof and push the back window in to collect coolers and other yummy items. THey are also tossing entire chest freezers off people's cabin decks to reveal their contents.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Demarest" <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 10:24 AM Subject: Re: bears burgling for food?

> 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) > >


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