While our Canadian friends are posting terrific images of recent bear sightings in and around Banff, I thought I'd post a couple of ordinary pics from the past.
These slide scans were taken years ago in Yellowstone when black bears hung out along the roadsides for people to stop and hand-feed them from cars. Occasionally a bear would become impatient and whack the person for handing out bread one-slice-at-a-time- which you may know ain't the "bear way." Then the park officials would go out and kill a half-dozen bears to make sure they killed the right bear.
Between this kind of thing and "dumpster-diving" bears, governmental organizations finally decided they had to protect the bears from people. Dumpsters were bear-proofed, and patrolling rangers caught and fined people who fed bears. After several years of that and a lot of public education, the problem has almost disappeared.
Our government often does things right. And sometimes it takes a long time to realize what's right. Just like you and me .
Anyhow, here are a couple of pics from the bad old days.
I think the second shot tells the your story, Charlie.
You're right: sometimes it takes a long time to realize what's right. What is bad is not to see what is wrong
Nice captures, BTW
Socrate
Nice ones Charlie . Was it Yellowstone or Glacier that had some back packer "hotel" that they use to put the scraps out for the bears so the visitors could watch. I think some people were killed by some of the bears. Prime example of lack of understanding and poor planning. I think the book Night of the Grizzlies was written about the incidents.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane in Yellowstone. It blows me away what they used to do there I like the inclusion of the car, it puts the shot in context. Nice pair of bear
Thanks Socrate, Per, Birdie and Tim.
I agree, Socrate- over the years I've sometimes been very slow to see the "wrongness" of things, ie for years I trusted my government regarding our involvement in Vietnam. Since then I've been more aware of what's wrong about things. AND I trust my government less, sadly.
Not my car, Per. It was a long time ago, and I've bought, driven and sold more than 40 used cars and pickups, and don't remember what I drove back then. Something cheap-but-functional, no doubt .
Birdie- it was probably Glacier NP. With only one road crossing the park, it's overall much wilder than Yellowstone. And has WAY fewer visitors. So Glacier is generally a better place for grizzlies to live and seldom come into contact with people.
Tim- Yeah, there was a lot of stupid human behavior back then. I was never destructive, but I also thought nothing of doing some pretty stupid things- although feeding bears wasn't one of them .
Charlie
Good read Charlie -- same thing is happening in Churchill with the polar bears, bears getting more and more comfortable with cars and people, and the conservation folk are starting to work proactively to de-educate the bears. Nice post! Cheers, Andrew
Ah, reminders of the good old days, when coating a baby's head in honey to get a pic of it getting a bear kiss was accepted. Now, people freak out over such suggestions. Nice set Charlie.
Good stuff Charlie! But another way to look at it is look at that car! It's "bear-proof!" Cars today couldn't stand up, so they HAD to do something! ! Just kidding of course......
Thanks all you kind, fun folk.
It took a long time to train people AND the bears, because people tend to do what they WANT to do, and male bears have only two things on their minds, and the other thing is food . Bears not only smell food in cars with windows open, but many have learned what food containers LOOK like. So, when camping in bear areas, we're told to store food in sealed, out-of-sight containers preferably between two trees and about 15 feet off the ground, and away from where you camp (best of all is in your car trunk and your car is at home in a locked garage (house refrigerators are acceptable if there is no room in your garage for a car) .
Charlie
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I like the inclusion of the car, it puts the shot in context. Nice pair of bear 