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javacatSo I got off on a run of looking up info about bears and bear attacks after being reminded of S. Colbert's BEARS! riffs & Threatdowns.
I used to have a total phobia about bears and might get it back after reading all this. The media saturation about an attack on Aug. 13, 1967, on Julie Helgeson while she was sleeping at her campsite undid me. But reading these? Now I'm remembering how having a large predator snuffling proximately to your tent makes having to kick your boyfriend awake & then actually breathe feel like each small sound = shouting "here! here! here I am!" Also how reassuring-feeling a thin nylon tent can be, even when you know better. Also how the 2 little pigs/wolf story relates to real life.
Wow, some of these bear attacks on record. Yikes. Look how many are unidentified people. "Male," "Female," "Backpacker," "Camper," "Photographer." Erk. Several are "partially consumed."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America_by_decade
http://www.blackbearheaven.com/bear-attack-statistics.htm
This is pretty amazing: http://www.blackbearheaven.com/bear-attacks-on-humans.htm
... Black bears will climb trees and on the two occasions that I climbed trees, the bears came after me. One time I had no gun so I urinated on the bear, which slowed him down somewhat, and I managed to kick him hard on the nose with my boot. ...
Okay, I did not expect that. If I had a part that made it easy to pee on an object, I don't think I'd be likely to expose said part to an animal with teeth and claws.
There's a link on that site called "weird stuff" that NO WAY will I click on. "Polar bears attack submarine" sounds interesting, only... no. I am still having the water buffalo baby, lions, and crocodile video run through my mind now and then!
I used to have a total phobia about bears and might get it back after reading all this. The media saturation about an attack on Aug. 13, 1967, on Julie Helgeson while she was sleeping at her campsite undid me.
I was an experienced camper with my family & Girl Scout summer camp & could easily imagine being just like her in 9 years. The first camping-out without an adult was a sleep-over at Gina S.'s house, a large suburban yard outside a picturesque French-and-Indian-War-historical town. Every little sound woke me up in terror thinking that a bear was coming to kill and eat me. @@. in retrospect.
I didn't get over completely irrational phobia until I & friends nearly bumped into a sow with 2 cubs on the Rae Lakes trail in King's Canyon. She circled us and went down the trail in the opposite direction. The same trip, stacked up with other backpackers below a pass sharing the one flat campsite, a bear galumped through camp, and was driven off by the brave people clanging pot lids. The next morning, my Nalgene had teethmarks on opposite sides but was still holding liquid. Presumably the bear was looking for Gatorade. Those encounters calmed me down to "take precautions/they'll leave you alone" mode.
I didn't get over completely irrational phobia until I & friends nearly bumped into a sow with 2 cubs on the Rae Lakes trail in King's Canyon. She circled us and went down the trail in the opposite direction. The same trip, stacked up with other backpackers below a pass sharing the one flat campsite, a bear galumped through camp, and was driven off by the brave people clanging pot lids. The next morning, my Nalgene had teethmarks on opposite sides but was still holding liquid. Presumably the bear was looking for Gatorade. Those encounters calmed me down to "take precautions/they'll leave you alone" mode.
Wow, some of these bear attacks on record. Yikes. Look how many are unidentified people. "Male," "Female," "Backpacker," "Camper," "Photographer." Erk. Several are "partially consumed."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America_by_decade
http://www.blackbearheaven.com/bear-attack-statistics.htm
This is pretty amazing: http://www.blackbearheaven.com/bear-attacks-on-humans.htm
... Black bears will climb trees and on the two occasions that I climbed trees, the bears came after me. One time I had no gun so I urinated on the bear, which slowed him down somewhat, and I managed to kick him hard on the nose with my boot. ...
Okay, I did not expect that. If I had a part that made it easy to pee on an object, I don't think I'd be likely to expose said part to an animal with teeth and claws.
There's a link on that site called "weird stuff" that NO WAY will I click on. "Polar bears attack submarine" sounds interesting, only... no. I am still having the water buffalo baby, lions, and crocodile video run through my mind now and then!