[pct-l] Bears

[ghummel@hbti.net (Greg Hummel)]

The Yellowstone NP site has a great deal of information on bear-human
activities and programs.  They have instituted a long range policy aimed to
reduce bear-human problems.  One other such program I have found is from:
www.beardogs.com   The Wind River Bear Institute website:

"The Wind River Bear Institute led by bear biologist Carrie Hunt and her
team of Karelian Bear Dogs are working from Alaska to Montana to Utah, to
develop the Partners in Life Program. WRBI is an organization founded by
Hunt to promote coexistence between bears and people. Hunt is a bear
conflict specialist with more than 20 years experience in hands-on
management of bears and working with the public (see Support Materials).
Hunt's innovative work in the field of human-bear conflict has led her to be
recognized as a leader in the field. Hunt developed the red pepper spray
system widely in use today to turn approaching bears. She also conducted the
first tests of rubber bullets and the concept of teaching of free-ranging
problem grizzly bears. Problem bears that she worked with over 14 years ago
are still alive today. These bears normally would have been destroyed within
one or two years. Hunt's current effort utilizes her past successes and
builds on them to create a new, exciting approach that will revolutionize
management of problem bears worldwide."

"Hunt has developed a noninvasive method she calls "bear shepherding" to
reduce human-bear conflict. The Program implements bear shepherding through
the "partnering" of 4 components- the bears, the public, bear management
agencies and WRBI's experienced bear conflict biologists and KBD teams.
Problem bears are taught to behave properly and the public is educated to
behave in a manner that prevents bear problems and their reoccurrence. The
Program works "on-site" with private landowners to educate and correct
situations that have led to conflicts with bears. Agency personnel are
trained to employ effective "teaching" techniques for both bears and people
and the WRBI teams work to develop the bear shepherding methodology and
educate their "partners"."

"The Program "shepherds" bears in a unique approach that utilizes highly
trained KBDs in combination with other tools such as red pepper spray,
rubber bullets and on-site trap releases (developed by the program) to
modify bear behavior so that problem bears do not need to be relocated or
destroyed. This is the only KBD team in the world that is trained to teach
bears to change their undesirable behaviors."

Instead of guessing what strategy will best work with bear-human contact,
perhaps we should look at the bear programs that have received the best
results over time.  Those that have all seem to include some type of "pepper
spray, rubber bullets" or other pain or discomfort tools (much like the
wrist rocket provides) to re-condition the bears that human contact is not
in their best interest.

It is not simply a matter of just keeping the bears away from human food
sources (as the Inyo NF canister policy).  A concerted program, like the one
above, of bear dis-incentives, removal of sources and herding is clearly
what is needed.  The Inyo program, like so many other half-assed, poorly
thought out, and under-funded ones will not work, IMHO!

I STRONGLY agree that people who do not properly counterbalance their food
or store it in bear-proof containers SHOULD BE FINED HEAVILY, especially in
the more populated and heavily used areas such as Yosemite Valley, Lyle
Canyon, Mt. Whitney, etc.  The callous storage of food by uneducated,
foolish and stupid people in bear country has caused this problem.  The
appropriate response from the NFS should have been, in my most arrogant
opinion:
1. To frequently monitor heavily popular areas and impose stiff fines for
non-compliance with proven methods
2. Initiate a bear education program in these and other areas
3. Implement a bear dis-incentive program

To date, the Inyo NF has done only the first two of these, poorly.

Greg "Strider" Hummel