Jump to content

Bear, other wildlife-human conflict


shootingstar

Recommended Posts

No doubt all sorts of situations were lumped into the annual statistics for bear and other wildlife-human conflict in British Columbia:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/human-wildlife-conflict-bc-1.4345561

Not sure, if it's just also people seeing a bear nearby in a park..or stopping their car trip, trying to get into house/garbage/food, etc.  

Earlier this spring here in prairie city, there was a wolf just 30 metres away from me as I rode along an open park pathway system.  There was no one else around ..just before 10:00 am. My lst encounter was in Vancouver, again near bike lane beside a busy road heading to university.  Wolf came out of a local regional park frequented by walkers and joggers also.  Wolf was only 30 metres away.

Yes, we've  seen bear 3 times..all in British Columbia.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never had problems with bears. I have seen them on rides. Saw a momma with cubs at Whistler. That made me a bit nervous.

I've accidentally ran over squirrels, and bunnies. My husband ran over a skunk. He hit it so fast it had no time to spray. Ran it over from tail to nose. He had no time to stop, and he opted not to. The skunk saw him turned his tail and then I guess he realized my husband's speed and it ran a few steps. The hill smelled really bas there for a bit. we teased my man. the skunk killer.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No bears around here. Biggest animals I've had to watch for are deer and an occassional elk. There are mountail lions in the area, but they stay out of sight if they can help it. 

Now coyotes....A couple years ago, the director of the Crane Trust, a cycling buddy, had purchased a few fat bikes for VIP tours of the trust. He wanted to break them in so invited a few of us out to ride them. The snow had a crust on it that made breaking new trail exhausting for the lead riders. We were doing a 2-wide pace line as it was way easier to follow so we took turns at the front. We got to a turnaround point and headed back re-tracing our route.  A short while after we turned around we saw tracks. Coyote tracks. On TOP of our tire tracks! We guessed a pack of around 6. We never saw them, but we could tell they were watching us! We werent' too worried because we had a decent sized group, but we made sure we all stayed together.  2 days later there was a news report of a woman riding trail in the western part of the state who was attacked by a coyote!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm allergic to bears so I stay away. I carry bear spray and have a bell on my bike. We have black bears and grizzlies here, as well as bison, moose, elk, mt sheep, mt goats, wolves, coyote, deer, pronghorn, and mt lions. I tend to see moose more than any of the others while riding. They are all on the move now as winter approaches. Everyone is coming down out of the mountains to the valley floor. Last winter moose wandered around town looking for food. Deer too. Lots of deer. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Rattlecan said:

If you think you understand grizzlies and how to be safe around them, look up the story of Tim Treadwell. He lived among grizzlies and probably knew as much about them as anyone. He was regarded as an expert.

 He was eaten by a grizzly.

Dude was a bit wacko. There were a lot of other circumstances that added up to that tragic situation

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Longjohn said:

It takes a tick a lot longer to kill you.

Drawn out misery. 

Deal with a bear and it's out front and in your face. You don't find out three weeks later when the rash breaks out. Hornets freak me out cause there's a zillion of them, kill 50 and it doesn't change a thing. And their sting is way out of proportion to their size. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry it was a coyote, not a wolf I encountered while cycling. 

There was a bear and cub just 40 metres away at hotel parking lot when we walked out of the hotel at Waterton National Park.  

We were cycling on the Continental Divide near Field, Alberta and saw cub in woods.  I realized I had a ripe banana in my pannier. We cycled quickly away...

Vancouver BC does get bears wandering into the edges of the suburban neighbourhoods every year.

And just few weeks ago, on World Animal Day, a moose ambled onto a transit station bridge in north end of our city here in middle of night. Here it is:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/moose-tuscany-lrt-calgary-transit-world-animal-day-1.4326890  For once, Calgary Transit, got a ton of Twitter likes.  If you are in town or cycling around in Banff - Lake Louise which sits in a National Park, you will may occasionally see elk (rutting season now) and deer wandering around.   

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we are camping in bear country WoZack always says if a bear is going to eat her she hopes he Dias so from the head down and not feet up. For the record, we have never had a bear issue. Seen lots of them, some upclose, but no problems. We had one at the tent door one night but as soon as I unzipped it and shined a light on him he was gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Zackny said:

When we are camping in bear country WoZack always says if a bear is going to eat her she hopes he Dias so from the head down and not feet up. For the record, we have never had a bear issue. Seen lots of them, some upclose, but no problems. We had one at the tent door one night but as soon as I unzipped it and shined a light on him he was gone.

No offense but if you unzipped it and shined a light on it I'd be gone too.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...