Bear encounters UT, AZ

[RememberSchiff]

Hobble Creek Canyon , UT,  a black bear wandered into campsite.

The scout’s tent was about 150 yards away from the rest of his group, and after the bear scratched the tent, the boy made noise scaring the bear from the camp. The bear did not seem to be searching out food.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources found a bear in the area, used dogs to chase it up a tree, and killed it, but officials won’t know if it was guilty until running DNA tests.

“Anytime there is a bear incident that results in human injury, the bear is euthanized," said Faith Heaton Jolley, the public information officer for the division. "Anytime it loses that fear of people, it is euthanized.”

Heaton says the boy scouts had a clean camp and acted properly. The bear was a two-year-old male.

https://www.upr.org/post/black-bear-killed-after-disturbing-boy-scout-tent-scratching-boy

Edited June 19, 2019 by RememberSchiff

[RememberSchiff]

Another bear  encounter and euthanization, a 3 year old female at  Camp Geronimo in Payson AZ .

This is the second bear this year to be lethally removed from the Payson area after exhibiting habituation and no fear of humans, according to Game and Fish.

The most recent bear killed reportedly entered empty tents and raided garbage cans over a two-week period at the camp. Attempts to scare it off were unsuccessful.

AZGFD reported when they arrived on scene to set a trap, the bear was found at the camp for the third time that day. The bear was rummaging through a vacant tent and eating food found in a Boy Scout’s suitcase.

Attempts to scare the bear away from the tent with hazing methods including a Taser, were unsuccessful.

The bear was deemed an immediate threat to the safety of the more than 900 Scouts (ages 14-17) at the camp and was euthanized.

“Habituated bears that have become accustomed to human food and water sources, including trash and bird feeders, pose a safety risk to the public and will likely end in the removal of the bear, sometimes by lethal means,” said Wildlife Supervisor Jarrod McFarlin.

https://www.paysonroundup.com/news/environment/bear-at-payson-boy-scout-camp-euthanized/article_24e275cf-4c53-5cfb-8b7a-d9b1dfa5bff4.html

[mrkstvns]

Those stories about bears coming into camp absolutely terrify me.  I can't imagine how people who've lived the experience deal with it....

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by RememberSchiff
getting off-topic on serious subject

[ItsBrian]

I had a black bear encounter about a month ago. It kept coming to everyone’s camp site despite making noise. I made close eye contact one too many times that night. The camp workers are fine with it roaming since it hasn’t hurt anyone.

[Liz]

On 6/22/2019 at 3:54 AM, ItsBrian said:

I had a black bear encounter about a month ago. It kept coming to everyone’s camp site despite making noise. I made close eye contact one too many times that night. The camp workers are fine with it roaming since it hasn’t hurt anyone.

That is really concerning to me. Once a bear has lost its fear of people the next step is someone getting hurt. Glad it's only a black bear, but that's enough. I'd be removing it if I were in charge of that camp. 

[David CO]

Unfortunately, There have been a lot of movies and TV shows about kids befriending wild animals.  Flipper, Gentle Ben, Free Willy, etc..  They never take the POV that it is a very bad idea to do so. This causes some people to go out into natural environments not understanding the difference between fiction and reality.

[swilliams]

Okay, I can't help myself.  What a poorly written article in the first link.  It says the boy was injured, but then says that the bear scratched the tent.  Which is it?  Both?  How/where/to what extent was the boy injured?  Ugh.

Now that I got that out of my system...  we have black bear all around our place in PA, as we're in the middle of the woods.  It doesn't take much for a black bear to acclimate to humans. 

When we first built the house, we used to have a dumpster that was picked up every-other week.  We couldn't keep the bear out of it.  One of them even broke the top.  One evening, we started down the driveway to go into town, and I found a bear on top of the dumpster.  I was so angry/annoyed at the thought of having to pick two week old trash out of the woods again, that I got out of the car and screamed at him, waving my arms.  I got the kind of look from that bear that I get from my teenage son sometimes.  Honked the horn, nothing.  Slammed the car door, nothing.  It wasn't until I turned out of the driveway and headed for the dumpster in the car that he finally moved.  Even then, he only wandered about 30 feet further into the trees.  That was the end of the dumpster.  I bought a rack that attached to the trailer hitch and we haul the trash to the transfer station.

Even with the trash gone, we still get bear that wander around the house.  They usually keep just far enough away that they don't set the dogs off (they're usually inside the house), but if you go more than a few yards into the woods you'll see the scat.  I can't decide how worried to be.  We've have a lot of single-track in the woods around the house, and the kids ride their mountain bikes through.  Cutting a new track a couple weekends ago, I was in a thicket of hemlock, cutting away dead branches, and was seeing more droppings than usual in this area.  We have a black lab, and he unexpectedly came up on me.  He growled, probably because he's not used to seeing a human in that part of the woods, and I screamed because in my peripheral vision and with the growling, I thought it was a bear. I don't know which of us was more freaked out.  The kids mostly ride during the day, but with the weather getting hotter the temptation to head out after dinner is hard to ignore.

[Liz]

swilliams - I'd be concerned about the bear that you couldn't scare away. Not so much the ones that don't come close enough to the house to get the dogs barking. Those ones have a little wariness. 

We have bear around here too, but I never see them. Occasionally we'll see scat or footprints or once or twice a year a neighbor will catch a photo. I don't let my kids go outside at night without an adult and I teach them never to approach ANY wild animal, but especially a bear or cougar (those are our predators) or of course a rattlesnake, but I also teach them not to be afraid; just follow the safety rules. Also, keeping the bears wary of hanging out around the house is why we keep large dogs. 

In 43 years of living here, I don't think I've ever seen a bear although I *might* have seen the tail end of one disappearing into the bushes once while driving down the road, and my mother has seen a bear exactly once. I've never seen a cougar and I've only seen one rattlesnake (when I was about 3). 

Deer around here are as acclimated as you describe your bears to be. They'll come up on my porch to eat my container garden (I won't even TRY to keep a regular garden). But you can still scare them away if you try. They won't just stand there and let you walk up to them and grab them. Some of them will let you get within 5 or 10 yards though, if you approach slowly. Run at them and yell and they'll bolt... except once in a while one won't. We had a doe here when I was a kid who would chase dogs and people. 

[Buggie]

Saw on the news this last week that a mountain lion was seen (photographed even) in far eastern Oklahoma. News says that its been a few years since one was confirmed, but they are starting to come back into the state there. Same way with bears. Reports are starting to pop up now and then about their reappearance. Either they are repopulating or they are being squeezed into view as humans push further into their areas. 

[yknot]

A training module for leaders specifically on outdoor animal hazards, like weather hazards, would be an excellent resource. The information in the current material is thin and fewer people today seem to have much background experience to draw upon from growing up in the out of doors. 

 

[swilliams]

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 5:41 PM, Liz said:

swilliams - I'd be concerned about the bear that you couldn't scare away. Not so much the ones that don't come close enough to the house to get the dogs barking. Those ones have a little wariness. 

We have bear around here too, but I never see them. Occasionally we'll see scat or footprints or once or twice a year a neighbor will catch a photo. I don't let my kids go outside at night without an adult and I teach them never to approach ANY wild animal, but especially a bear or cougar (those are our predators) or of course a rattlesnake, but I also teach them not to be afraid; just follow the safety rules. Also, keeping the bears wary of hanging out around the house is why we keep large dogs. 

In 43 years of living here, I don't think I've ever seen a bear although I *might* have seen the tail end of one disappearing into the bushes once while driving down the road, and my mother has seen a bear exactly once. I've never seen a cougar and I've only seen one rattlesnake (when I was about 3). 

Deer around here are as acclimated as you describe your bears to be. They'll come up on my porch to eat my container garden (I won't even TRY to keep a regular garden). But you can still scare them away if you try. They won't just stand there and let you walk up to them and grab them. Some of them will let you get within 5 or 10 yards though, if you approach slowly. Run at them and yell and they'll bolt... except once in a while one won't. We had a doe here when I was a kid who would chase dogs and people. 

It's been years since we got rid of the dumpster.  I have no idea if that same bear is still around, or not.  We do have a color-phase bear that circles around from time to time.  I came face-to-face with him; within about 20 feet.  (That's the second time I've been so close to one.)  Because it was twilight, and at that point I didn't know black bear didn't have to be black, I actually thought this cinnamon colored yearling was our distant neighbor's Rhodesian Ridgeback at first.  NOT!!  The other time, the bear was right in the woods outside the garage.  Again, under 30 feet.  Feet, not yards.  That time our bigger dog was out with me, and he's the one that alerted me to the bear.  He started to chase it, then the bear turned back toward him for a second or two.  This is in the north-central part of PA.

While I didn't see it, there was a black bear that came through our yard here in NJ.  Our next-door neighbor let us know.  Even in this suburban location, they've been sighted.  Then there was that incident a few years back where the college kid was killed by a black bear in NJ.

Near my parents' house in Utah, they had a deer attack and kill a small dog.  Stomped him to death.  Wildlife can be both fascinating and scary.