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TNhiker
09-20-2017, 10:50
http://www.roanoke.com/news/virginia/douthat-state-park-trails-closed-after-hiker-injured-by-bear/article_e241cf0b-2c1e-5a7a-b118-cd8b8cb60382.html

moldy
09-20-2017, 11:17
Not a hiker not near the AT

Time Zone
09-20-2017, 11:22
Did I miss that there was some sort of treaty made with the bears that they have agreed not to bother hikers near the AT?

TNhiker
09-20-2017, 11:26
Not a hiker not near the AT



Thats why I put it in the "general" forum.....

Sarcasm the elf
09-20-2017, 11:31
Did I miss that there was some sort of treaty made with the bears that they have agreed not to bother hikers near the AT?
Yes, it was made back in 1967 but only was only rattified by bears in the Roanoake area. A similar treaty in Connecticut was attempted back in 2011, but failed to garner the required number of signatures prior to hibernation.

HooKooDooKu
09-20-2017, 11:51
OMG: That article just continues to perpetuate facilities of black bears.


officials are unsure whether there were any cubs nearby
Unless they are being directly threaten, it shouldn't matter because black mama bear knows the cubs will climb a tree to escape danger.


I think she is an avid park-goer and she must have known to stay quiet and not do anything during the attack.
WHAT???
That is completely contrary to modern advice agencies such as GSMNP try to teach the public for years.
You don't play dead with a black bear attack, you fight back.

Sarcasm the elf
09-20-2017, 12:44
I think she is an avid park-goer and she must have known to stay quiet and not do anything during the attack.

WHAT???
That is completely contrary to modern advice agencies such as GSMNP try to teach the public for years.
You don't play dead with a black bear attack, you fight back.
I caught that well, my guess is that comment was simply the reporter mixing up the words "encounter"
and "attack"

Deadeye
09-20-2017, 12:55
They really should stop calling them attacks.. they're "attempted ingestions"

Ashepabst
09-20-2017, 13:01
...attempted pic-a-nic snatchins.

HooKooDooKu
09-20-2017, 13:52
I caught that well, my guess is that comment was simply the reporter mixing up the words "encounter"
and "attack"
Doesn't make sense either... "stay quiet" is NOT a part of the instructions for "What Do I Do If I See A Bear?".

BobTheBuilder
09-20-2017, 14:15
The writer who did the piece is the local crime reporter, so it's not surprising that she didn't understand the correct behavior for a bear encounter. We should actually all be happy that this happens so rarely that nobody in the newspaper business knows much about it. I wonder how big her dogs were? Little yap dogs might look like a snack to a bear...

MuddyWaters
09-20-2017, 14:21
OMG: That article just continues to perpetuate facilities of black bears.


Unless they are being directly threaten, it shouldn't matter because black mama bear knows the cubs will climb a tree to escape danger.


WHAT???
That is completely contrary to modern advice agencies such as GSMNP try to teach the public for years.
You don't play dead with a black bear attack, you fight back.
That advice is ONLY because it assumes the bear is predatory, and that is reason it attacked. Not bad advice...because black bears rarely attack otherwise.

Rarely, not never.

Theres documented cases where doing "wrong" thing and playing dead....worked with a black bear. While fighting back...didnt. If plan A dont work, might as well give plan B a shot...

gpburdelljr
09-20-2017, 14:44
The writer who did the piece is the local crime reporter, so it's not surprising that she didn't understand the correct behavior for a bear encounter. We should actually all be happy that this happens so rarely that nobody in the newspaper business knows much about it. I wonder how big her dogs were? Little yap dogs might look like a snack to a bear...
I remember when reporters actually checked facts before publishing.

Feral Bill
09-20-2017, 15:10
I remember when reporters actually checked facts before publishing. You're THAT old???!!!

John B
09-20-2017, 16:42
The writer who did the piece is the local crime reporter, so it's not surprising that she didn't understand the correct behavior for a bear encounter. We should actually all be happy that this happens so rarely that nobody in the newspaper business knows much about it. I wonder how big her dogs were? Little yap dogs might look like a snack to a bear...

What mistake did she make in her article? She wrote about the Department of Conservation's recommended behavior in the event of a bear encounter.

gpburdelljr
09-20-2017, 17:23
What mistake did she make in her article? She wrote about the Department of Conservation's recommended behavior in the event of a bear encounter.

You are right that the journalist didn't make the error. The journalist provides the following quote from Shannon Johnson, public communications and marketing director for the Va Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“I think she is an avid park-goer and she must have known to stay quiet and not do anything during the attack. The bear fled the scene and she was able to get away.”

The VA DGIF (see link at bottom of article) actually recommends this.



In the unlikely event that a black bear attacks you, fight back. Black bears have been driven away with rocks, sticks and even bare hands.


So, unless the park's public communications and marketing director was misquoted, it was the public communication director that made the error.

RuthN
09-20-2017, 17:29
The writer who did the piece is the local crime reporter, so it's not surprising that she didn't understand the correct behavior for a bear encounter. We should actually all be happy that this happens so rarely that nobody in the newspaper business knows much about it. I wonder how big her dogs were? Little yap dogs might look like a snack to a bear...

"The bear fled the scene..." Definitely a crime reporter. :)

TNhiker
09-20-2017, 21:26
I remember when reporters actually checked facts before publishing.



i can say in our newsroom----we do our absolutely best at checking facts....

do some things get misreported?

of course----as we are only humans..........every profession has it's errors...

we try to keep our to a minimum........

Skyline
09-20-2017, 21:34
Or attempted treaty negotiations.

TTT
09-21-2017, 04:52
The latest news update says there was no bear involved, only a large porcupine. The woman was in fact Mr. George Brown and the attack occurred in Georgia.

rocketsocks
09-21-2017, 22:35
The latest news update says there was no bear involved, only a large porcupine. The woman was in fact Mr. George Brown and the attack occurred in Georgia.fighting back with a porcupine would be like drop kicking a cactus barefooted...think I'd rather play dead.

JPritch
09-22-2017, 12:09
I remember the bear attack in Douthat last year, and people on one of the local news websites absolutely slamming the victim because 'she obviously messed with a mama bear and her cubs and got what she deserved'. I vaguely remember them killing a bear but it turning out not to be the bear behind the attack. I wonder if this might be the same bear then?

TNhiker
09-22-2017, 21:06
I remember the bear attack in Douthat last year, and people on one of the local news websites absolutely slamming the victim because 'she obviously messed with a mama bear and her cubs and got what she deserved'. I vaguely remember them killing a bear but it turning out not to be the bear behind the attack. I wonder if this might be the same bear then?




this article states they believe the bear that was killed was the attacker....

MuddyWaters
09-23-2017, 02:46
fighting back with a porcupine would be like drop kicking a cactus barefooted...think I'd rather play dead.
I had a porky keep walking around my inner net under my tarp one night, trying to get in. Rubbing against it. Id shine light on it, holler, it would go away for 10 min, then it would come back. It ate part my pack too . My inner net is small. If you rub on it,...you rub on me.... It was all i could do not to swat it

double d
09-23-2017, 07:54
Did I miss that there was some sort of treaty made with the bears that they have agreed not to bother hikers near the AT?
yup, my thoughts as well-bears do what bears do-