5-2 SS Bear Behavior

 Not long ago, Dr. Stephen Herrero,  one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on bear attacks on humans, gave a seminar on their behavior in Jackson Wyoming. Here’s  Fish and Game’s Greg Losinski to discuss the seminar. “Dr. Stephen Herrero is the expert in all of North America about bear attacks spoke a few times to different crowds about how people can be in bear country and be safe for both people and  bears. One thing he did was share his vast body of knowledge about how  they deal with each other as well as humans. That’s an important thing for those of us down here in the lower 48 to understand is that the Bears we see in videos and movies up there have a totally different tolerance for each other and humans because of the ready supply of food such as salmon. Down here our bears have to work a lot harder for food than they do up there and they don’t share very well and they definitely don’t like people close to them. Always keep that in mind when you are in their country, which is just about everywhere in the Northwest in terms of black bears and grizzlies. When it comes to bears the number one rule is give them plenty of space. As long as they know you are there that is usually not a problem. Most problems with bears is not because they are out to get people but because they are surprised by people. First rule in the woods make lots of noise. The other thing to do is not purposefully attract bears and that is where we have a lot of problems. People putting out food so they can take photographs or people just being plain lazy and leaving their garbage out. That’s where you get in trouble.