Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:52:15 -0800
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: camping amidst bears, safety question
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimqGEvdTrE8XZ=4eXFK_+MjtBJRAqopTrD8rXpT@mail.gmail.com>
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from NPR website, you decide if Loren has it right in his opinion:
http://tinyurl.com/2c9rbps
>
July 29, 2010
by FRANK JAMES
IAN MCALLISTER/RAINCOAST CONSERVATION SOCIETY
A female grizzly bear thought to be responsible for horrifying night-
time attacks that killed one camper and wounded others as they slept
near Yellowstone National Park in Montana was captured, wildlife and
law enforcement officials said.
The bear was caught in a culvert trap (here's an example of one) after
it returned to the scene of the attack just as officials had suspected
it would. The bear was caught with two of its three cubs. No word in
any of the reporting I've seen on the on the whereabouts of the third
cub.
The bear will be killed, if it already hasn't been. There was no
indication from authorities on what would happen to the cubs aside
from the information that they wouldn't be returned to the wild.
People knowledgeable about bear behavior say the Tuesday attack on
sleeping campers was unusual in that it wasn't a case of a mother bear
or sow displaying protective behavior.
Instead, the bear entered several tents and attacked the campers for
no reason readily apparent to humans. The man who was killed was
camping alone at a site a quarter mile away from where other campers
were attacked.
The Billings Gazette described what one family experienced as the
attacks occurred at their camp site. An excerpt:
Campers Paige and Don Wilhelm, of Aledo, Texas, were camped in site
No. 12 of the 10-acre campground when they heard a scream at about
1:30 a.m. At first, they thought it was just teenagers screwing
around. They checked on their two boys, ages 12 and 9, and then tried
to go back to sleep.
Then they heard another scream, this one closer.
“I heard somebody yell, ‘Stop! No!’ ” said Paige Wilhelm.
And then they heard the woman yell, “A bear’s attacked me!”
As they arose to dress, they heard a bear come by their tent, making a
“huffing” sound.
The Missoulian reports that the woman, Canadian Deb Freele of London,
Ontario, eventually played dead, which caused the bear to break off
the attack.
While attacks like this are unusual, it did cross my mind that one
result of something like this could be that more national park campers
decide to protect themselves by packing gunsalong with their sleeping
bags. And who could blame them, now that it's legal to do so?
On 11-Feb-11, at 4:17 PM, Loren Busch wrote:
> RE:P Bear Attack
>
>> This AP story seems to confirm your recollections, not mine. I
>> heard the
>> reports on two different NPR stations very near to the time the
>> incident
>> happened, actually hearing of the incident one day, and of its
>> resolution a
>> day or so later. I also seem to recall the fate of the younger bears
>> incorrectly, as this AP story states that the two young bears were
>> sent to a
>> zoo.
>> Memory is a funny thing. Mine seems to be wrong in this case, at
>> least
>> based on this AP report and your recollections.
>>
>
> Your memory may not be the problem, it might be the source. Most
> don't
> consider NPR much of reliable source for news, known for really
> sloppy and
> biased reporting.
>
>>
>>
>>
