Bears kill keepers in creepy Japanese Bear Farm

Bears escaped from desolate pens where they performed for food (and may have been part of gall bladder harvest). Two of 3 elderly caretakers were found dead.

Keep reading Bears kill keepers in creepy Japanese Bear Farm

Share/Save

Alaska bans tasers on bears, moose, fearing “catch and release” hunting

Alaskans ban taser use on moose and bear, fearing a non-existent epidemic of “no kill” hunts. Hunting groups hate “catch and release” hunting, fearing it would debase hunting.

Keep reading Alaska bans tasers on bears, moose, fearing “catch and release” hunting

Does Whitebark Pine Decline = Increased Grizzly Attacks?

grizzly

The grizzly bear committee report mainly just takes on a strawman claim that whitebark pine decline=grizzly decline. That’s not what the Times said. The agency’s report really doesn’t refute the real claim, whitebark pine decline=grizzly conflict increase. It just says it’s not the biggest factor.

Keep reading Does Whitebark Pine Decline = Increased Grizzly Attacks?

Yellowstone Bear Attack Investigation Halts Trapping, Starts Disagreements

grizzly

“Erv never would’ve walked up on a bear that he saw. This was an accidental encounter at close range,” says bear expert and Evert’s friend Chuck Neal . “He wasn’t a moron. He was a brilliant man.”

Keep reading Yellowstone Bear Attack Investigation Halts Trapping, Starts Disagreements

Who is to Blame for Fatal Yellowstone Area Grizzly Attack?

grizzly

The other question is when the bear researchers left the area and if they left a sizable carcass behind. The Chicago Tribune says the researchers lured the bare to the trap with a carcass. Since grizzlies are known to protect carcasses, how did they dispose of it? The area was posted for bears. So is most of Yellowstone. The problem may be too many bear signs instead of not enough. I was there last week and nearly everywhere there was some sort of bear sign. I saw at least two grades–bear activity and area closed. But the area closed signs near Elephant Back trail were ambiguous; the trail was still open and a ranger lead a hike there. Maybe Yellowstone is becoming the park that cried bear?

Keep reading Who is to Blame for Fatal Yellowstone Area Grizzly Attack?

Yellowstone: How to See Bears

3 grizzlies

Grizzly family walks

“Where can I find a bear?” is supposedly the most common question asked of Yellowstone rangers. For decades this has been bear central. Back in the day, rangers set out garbage on bear-viewing stages. Now all food waste is sealed in steel and rangers would like to keep people far from bears–while paradoxically allowing us to enjoy the park.

The rangers want to keep people from bears not because humans are bears’ favorite snack. It’s more that bears make crowds of people do stupid things. In just a few shoulder season days I saw plenty cars stopped in the road and more than a few people chasing a grizzly down the road by foot and car. All the advice about bear spray and staying back 100 yards is forgotten when a handsome bear lumbers by.

Yellowstone has two bear species. Black bears are smaller, more docile and often have a lighter muzzle. And they’re usually black, but can come in rust to brown. Grizzlies (also called brown bears) are huge, more aggressive and have a big shoulder hump and superlong claws. So naturally, that’s the one Americans want to see. You can see black bears anywhere–or at least in 40 states, the Bear Center says. Yellowstone is one of a handful of pockets of grizzlies left in the lower 48–with the rest up on the remote Canadian border, the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project shows.

Grizzly Grins

Bears hardly ever attack people. (Though, while we

Keep reading Yellowstone: How to See Bears