View Full Version : Bear video
Thinspace
06-22-2015, 14:35
Is this woman correct in her assessment or is she just an idiot? While I'm sure some of what she says is true isn't it tempting fate to act this way around black bears? I'm reminded of that guy who used to live among the grizzlies in Alaska who finall got eaten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU
I believe in scaring black bears away when I encounter them. On the few occasions, mostly in SNP, they have run away without me doing anything specific to scare them other than being present. This lady seems to have habituated this bear to her presence. I think that's dangerous. Better for bears to think of humans as potentially dangerous and to be scared of us than to be "comfortable" in our presence. IMO.
illabelle
06-22-2015, 14:54
We saw a young bear, maybe still a cub, yesterday afternoon near Davenport Gap Shelter in the Smokies. He was on the slope above the trail and scooted off behind a tree when he saw us. But then he stayed there. He didn't run away. Had us a little worried that mom might be nearby, and maybe she was teaching him that those hikers at the shelter have food.
Offshore
06-22-2015, 14:58
She's an animal welfare activist here in NJ and is active in the anti-bear hunt movement. (Google her name for more of her antics and look at the other videos she has posted.) While her motives may be sincere, her anthropomorphizing of bears and bear behavior ultimately does bears and humans a disservice. Are black bears in NJ all a pack of fearsome killers? No. But they're not as harmless as domestic animals or as fun to interact with as Yogi and Boo-Boo either - but that's what she would have people believe. Well intentioned or not, videos like this get people injured and bears killed. I avoid and respect bears, I don't make friends with them.
mPalozzola01
06-22-2015, 15:04
This woman is a moron, This bear is small, and young. I am in no way saying black bears are these ferocious monsters, but this is a timid youngster. Do this to a 400-500 lb adult, A mother with cubs, An adult fresh after hibernation and let me know what happens. Bluff charges are a first/second teir defence, animals who bluff charge can/will up the anti if their warnings are not heeded. They are wild animals and they are top of the food chain. People like this moron are the people who either get themselves killed or some other Idiot watching her example.
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Had us a little worried that mom might be nearby, and maybe she was teaching him that those hikers at the shelter have food.
she's probably already taught her cubs this....
especially at shelters-----bears have learned that packs mean food...........
illabelle
06-22-2015, 15:31
she's probably already taught her cubs this....
especially at shelters-----bears have learned that packs mean food...........
Sadly we encountered three hikers who dropped their packs at the Mt Cammerer side trail junction while they went to the lookout tower. These were people who knew that Cosby was closed due to bear activity, but still they just casually left their food and everything else unattended.
These were people who knew that Cosby was closed due to bear activity,
and cosby is notorious for having a bear that will "steal" packs...
the log book almost every year has stories about missing packs...........
and yes, that is just plain dumb to leave pack at junction.............
not only for the 4 legged animals but the 2 legged ones...................
Thinspace
06-22-2015, 15:53
This woman is a moron, This bear is small, and young. I am in no way saying black bears are these ferocious monsters, but this is a timid youngster. Do this to a 400-500 lb adult, A mother with cubs, An adult fresh after hibernation and let me know what happens. Bluff charges are a first/second teir defence, animals who bluff charge can/will up the anti if their warnings are not heeded. They are wild animals and they are top of the food chain. People like this moron are the people who either get themselves killed or some other Idiot watching her example.
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That's pretty much what I was thinking. She coudl get someone seriously injured or killed with this vidio. I've not had any first hand bear experience but I'm certainly going to respect them if I ever do have an encounter.
The likelihood of a bear stealing unattended food is high, the likelihood of a bear attacking a person is low.
Humans, not bears, are at the top of the food chain. Humans kill thousands and thousands of black bears a year. Black bears have killed less than a hundred people in recorded history despite countless millions of encounters.
The bear in the video is an adult bear, and is acting unusually aggressively. Her point that bear danger is highly over-rated is absolutely correct, but in my opinion it is unwise to push any potentially dangerous animal that is showing signs of aggression and agitation as that bear surely is doing.
HooKooDooKu
06-22-2015, 16:27
Is this woman correct in her assessment or is she just an idiot? ...
Her primary point is valid... that bears are generally timid animals and not fierce killers that seek to attack humans.
But I refute her claim that "bluff charges" are getting bears killed.
Of course I can't speak for what it's like in NJ, but in places like the GSMNP, the National Park Service isn't going out in the woods and killing bears because people have reported a "bluff charge". They ARE killing bears that are becoming accustom to humans and becoming a nuisance; placing human life and welfare in parallel. (Unfortunately, it's usually not the bear's fault... but people's fault to not following regulations that would keep bears and people food separated).
She's also an idiot for putting herself at risk for deliberately getting that close to a bear... actions that would be criminal in a national park.
illabelle
06-22-2015, 17:09
My son-in-law once set up a video camera in an outbuilding where their cats hung out to see what was getting into the cat food. Video showed several raccoons having a party while the cats sat at a safe distance and watched. The raccoons did not have the best table manners. There was a lot of growling, snarling, and charging at one another while competing for a share of the meal. It was a good reminder of how very important a good food source is to a wild animal. It's something to be defended vigorously, even if those are your siblings, cousins, and best friends that want a share. Food scarcity is the reality. Survival requires and reinforces behaviors that we wouldn't tolerate in our pets.
But those [raccoons/bears/foxes/skunks/etc] are so cute! And we want to pet them!
No, not a good idea. We need to keep our distance for their sake as well as our own.
I think it's true that government agencies will rarely shoot a bear for bluff charging, but I think it's relatively common among those in the general public who are "loaded for bear." I think it's a good example why being too afraid of bears actually makes a person less safe.
If someone goes into the woods with a gun handy, thinking about using it for bear protection, they are very likely to shoot a bear like the one in the video, thus escalating what would have turned out to be a harmless situation.
Is she a moron? No, she's a risk taker. Admittedly the risk she's taking is very small. Probably less dangerous than driving on snow and ice. Some are not comfortable with certain risks that others take without pause. Her willingness to interact with bears does increase the odds of her being attacked but the risk is still way below of the risk most take daily driving to work or the grocery store. I love seeing the bears and think is great they're among us and haven't been hunted and driven into extinction so I'll let them be and won't feed them. As a girlfriend replied once when I said, "it takes all kinds", she replied, "No it doesn't, it's just that we got them."
By habituating that bear to humans she is ironically increasing the chances that it will be killed. Had she scared it away immediately, the bear would continue its natural fear of humans and avoid other people. Now the bear probably views other people as approachable. As a result, it is more likely to come into contact with people, some of whom might be armed and shoot first and ask questions later. It's just like the disservice people in SNP do to deer by hand feeding them. No one thinks about how these deer will in the fall venture outside the park and approach hunters.
Sarcasm the elf
06-22-2015, 18:58
Is this woman correct in her assessment or is she just an idiot? While I'm sure some of what she says is true isn't it tempting fate to act this way around black bears? I'm reminded of that guy who used to live among the grizzlies in Alaska who finall got eaten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU
Both.
She is correct that black bears are generally docile.
She is also an idiot. What she is doing is quite effectively habituating the bear and in most cases it is only once the bear has lost it's fear of humans that it becomes any danger to people. If she's really concerned about the bears she claims are getting killed over bluff charging (I find this claim dubious to begin with) then she shouldn't be encouraging the bear that it is safe to bluff charge a human. (Duh!)
Sheriff Cougar
06-29-2015, 00:22
She is asking for TROUBLE an is making the bear more comfortable around people which could cause real problems for bear and people down the road.....
What she is doing is quite effectively habituating the bear and in most cases it is only once the bear has lost it's fear of humans that it becomes any danger to people.
As much as it would seem a logical conclusion there's no evidence of this being true. Actually the opposite is indicated by the data. Most attacks involve person intentionally interacting with bears, such as her. There's just a few predatory attacks which makes it impossible to determine why the bear became a human predator. Habituated bears don't register as attacking humans and there's many instances of bears becoming habituated, so if this would lead to the bears becoming dangerous to humans one would expect that there be lots of attacks, yet the attacks are not happening.
Pedaling Fool
08-29-2015, 20:32
Another case of some naive person contributing to human-bear habituation -- and I mean NAIVE.
http://foxct.com/2015/08/28/sessions-woods-trails-closed-in-burlington-after-woman-encounters-black-bears/
NAIVE is a real nice way of saying it IMO, if not understated a fair amount.
u.w.
Traveler
08-30-2015, 07:33
Another case of some naive person contributing to human-bear habituation -- and I mean NAIVE.
http://foxct.com/2015/08/28/sessions-woods-trails-closed-in-burlington-after-woman-encounters-black-bears/
Like most things, this tale has a longer story than just this video.
Two ear tags are usually signature of bears that are not too afraid of people. There are two tags on this bear, one is from an initial tagging as a yearling in its winter den by DEEP to track it, the second tag is from a previous capture and relocation effort made when this bear became a nuisance in another area. The bear is clearly past its fear of humans, and was long before this video was made. Hard to blame this woman for habituating it when it suddenly appeared.
This is more a case of someone not knowing what to do when encountering a bear that all of a sudden appears. About all she could have done was to make more noise, however in this instance I doubt the bear would have paid much attention given its history. Moving or running quickly away from it could have triggered a different response.
CT DEEP says the bear shown in the video will be destroyed, given its history and the lack of any fear it has shown around people. Its an unfortunate decision however relocation efforts have not improved the bears behavior and are likely not going to.
Pedaling Fool
08-30-2015, 08:44
Like most things, this tale has a longer story than just this video.
Two ear tags are usually signature of bears that are not too afraid of people. There are two tags on this bear, one is from an initial tagging as a yearling in its winter den by DEEP to track it, the second tag is from a previous capture and relocation effort made when this bear became a nuisance in another area. The bear is clearly past its fear of humans, and was long before this video was made. Hard to blame this woman for habituating it when it suddenly appeared.
This is more a case of someone not knowing what to do when encountering a bear that all of a sudden appears. About all she could have done was to make more noise, however in this instance I doubt the bear would have paid much attention given its history. Moving or running quickly away from it could have triggered a different response.
CT DEEP says the bear shown in the video will be destroyed, given its history and the lack of any fear it has shown around people. Its an unfortunate decision however relocation efforts have not improved the bears behavior and are likely not going to.
I didn't blame her, I said she “contributed”, albeit her actions are probably very small, given the bears actions.
Her naivete is that she didn't realize that this cub was displaying behavior of potential future aggressiveness. She may be an “animal lover”, but she sure is naive of animal behavior. And other comments just shows her naivete, such as: "...this bear let me out alive..."Geez... :rolleyes:
You say, "...a case of not knowing...", I say naive. Not sure of your distinction:-? BTW, she's a self-proclaimed animal lover, not just someone that found them self in this situation, that's why I say NAIVE.
I did notice the tags (how could anyone miss them:rolleyes:). What this seems to me is to be a case of siblings that have recently been separated from their mother and the one is much more brave than the other, I'd be very curious to know the sex of these cubs and wouldn't be surprised if the more aggressive one is the male.
There is clearly some history here we don't know of and I also wouldn't be surprised if the momma was habituated and that was passed on to her cubs.
Traveler
08-30-2015, 10:50
The bear clearly was known to the DEEP as a problem as supported by the dual tags. The encounter was one of several made over the past few weeks but was actually filmed and DEEP Wardens could make the observation the bear needs to be destroyed.
Not knowing what exactly to do when a bear suddenly showed up or recognized what the bear was doing was not normal behavior to me is ignorance. That she didn't run was a good thing. Not everyone is an expert in bear behavior who is using groomed, multi use trails in suburban CT (or any state with a growing bear population). I would imagine only a handful of people using the trails that day would have many right answers to questions regarding bears, behaviors, and best human responses to observed behaviors.