[pct-l] bears & food - and dogs

[m.karon at comcast.net (Marshall Karon)]

On my hike through the High Sierras in August one year (think it was 1997),
I got into Tuolumne Meadows when the Park Service had some bear hunting dogs
on loan to keep the bears away. Didn't hear about then doing that in 1994 or
2000. Wonder if they are still doing it.

Marshall Karon
Portland, OR
m.karon@comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: <CMountainDave@aol.com>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 5:13 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] bears & food


> Hey, I agree that bear cans are harder for bears to get into than hung
food.
> My main point is that neither causes a bear to become afraid of humans. As
has
> been posted by others, bears have an incredible sense of smell. They are
> going to detect the fact that you have food no matter what you do with it.
They
> have no way of knowing from a distance whether they will be able to get
your
> food or not. If they are not afraid of you, they are going to enter your
camp to
> investigate. This close proximity is not good for them or us and is not a
> natural thing in the wilderness.  They could get hurt by scared hikers
throwing
> rocks, we could get hurt if they get aggressive for some reason. I would
like to
> see the Park Service use methods that have been used in other areas with
> success to condition the bears to not enter our camps, mainly with non
injurious
> methods such as dog harassment. It makes sense to me. I just want the Park
> Officials to have open minds on this. I don't feel that they do when they
simply
> pass new regulations that rely on inexperienced hikers to solve the
problem for
> them. I am hoping that one of the many hundreds of people on this list
knows
> somebody in Park management well enough to influence them enough to at
least
> give the conditioning method a try.
>   My experience with Park Officials here in Washington has shown that they
> pretty much do as they want and ignore public input. (the goat fiasco in
the
> Olympics -e-mail me if you want details). I fear that is the case in the
Sierra.
> I don't like the idea of being forced to carry extra weight, but that is
quite
> secondary to the welfare of the bears. I don't think they are on the right
> track and that is why I am speaking out. I guess it boils down to whether
or not
> you think bears should be afraid of us or not. Some people don't want them
to
> be so they can get up close and gawk at them and get close up pictures.
That
> is why they once had open dumps in Yosemite
>  Hope this makes sense.
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