What was hilarious was that the bear was deemed to be acting “aggressively.”. You mean it was being a bear? Imagine wild animals being just that. The disconnect is astounding. Remember Harambe.
Jumping in to try to translate from Banff Park Staff lingo.
Bears do become more aggressive once they become desensitized to humans and human activity. I think of it as territorly aggressive. It’s a powerful and wild animal either way.
When my wife and I visited Banff & Jasper back before the pandemic we encountered a park ranger at a trailhead that was enforcing a requirement that hiking groups be a minimum of three people since a black bear was known to be in the area. They apparently felt 3+ hikers in a group would make enough noise to dissuade bears from approaching.
We were also told of a bear that they had recently been forced to euthanize. They had determined that the bear had either been deliberately fed by a hiker with a backpack or had seen a backpacker drop some food. Whatever the case, the bear had associated backpackers with food and would accost almost every backpacker it saw. If you didn’t have a backpack it would leave you alone… Apparently once a bear learns about a food source it will always remember it. The park rangers had tried everything they could think of to discourage the bear, from bear spray (mace) to beanbag guns to tranquilizing it & relocating it. But it kept returning to the area and approaching backpackers, so they eventually had to put it down.
Grizzlies aren’t that chill. They’ll bluff charge you. I mean it’s still pretty chill in a way I guess, but as someone on the other end of that charge, chill might not be the word you choose to use.
… bluff charge is by definition aggressive behaviour. So when does it happen? Rarely. It’s not like they see you and want to bluff charge you. You have to be seriously encroaching on them or their cubs for them to even care.
And it’s even in the name: bluff charge. They don’t want to fight, it’s a bluff. They want nothing to do with you. They want you to go away. Even most of their aggressive behaviour is trying to get you to simply go away.
So returning back to normal behavior, yes they are chill.
You mean how they evolved eating berries, insects, rummaging in the dirt, etc? Their time for aggression is few and far between, mainly about mating and protecting their cubs.
Bears will definitely fight each other over the best fishing spot, berry patch, or other food source. During the fall they sometimes get a little more aggressive as they really want to fatten up.
They do know it was the killer bear because it was obviously tagged … which was how authorities were notified by GPS that there was an attack happening.
Bear wasn’t tagged - GPS SOS signal is likely how they were alerted. That being said, if they found an aggressive bear in the area, I’d be inclined to trust them. There isn’t really anything to gain by lying, especially if it leads to another hiker death from the actual bear.
Parks Canada received an alert indicating a bear attack from a GPS device in the Red Deer River Valley around 8 p.m. Friday.
A grizzly bear displaying aggressive behaviour was found in the area and was euthanized by Parks Canada for public safety reasons.
First aid kits and knowledge, bear spray and a GPS are all important tools in case of an attack, Titchener said.
What was hilarious was that the bear was deemed to be acting “aggressively.”. You mean it was being a bear? Imagine wild animals being just that. The disconnect is astounding. Remember Harambe.
Jumping in to try to translate from Banff Park Staff lingo.
Bears do become more aggressive once they become desensitized to humans and human activity. I think of it as territorly aggressive. It’s a powerful and wild animal either way.
When my wife and I visited Banff & Jasper back before the pandemic we encountered a park ranger at a trailhead that was enforcing a requirement that hiking groups be a minimum of three people since a black bear was known to be in the area. They apparently felt 3+ hikers in a group would make enough noise to dissuade bears from approaching.
We were also told of a bear that they had recently been forced to euthanize. They had determined that the bear had either been deliberately fed by a hiker with a backpack or had seen a backpacker drop some food. Whatever the case, the bear had associated backpackers with food and would accost almost every backpacker it saw. If you didn’t have a backpack it would leave you alone… Apparently once a bear learns about a food source it will always remember it. The park rangers had tried everything they could think of to discourage the bear, from bear spray (mace) to beanbag guns to tranquilizing it & relocating it. But it kept returning to the area and approaching backpackers, so they eventually had to put it down.
Contrary to popular belief, bears are pretty chill. Aggressive is not normal.
Grizzlies aren’t that chill. They’ll bluff charge you. I mean it’s still pretty chill in a way I guess, but as someone on the other end of that charge, chill might not be the word you choose to use.
… bluff charge is by definition aggressive behaviour. So when does it happen? Rarely. It’s not like they see you and want to bluff charge you. You have to be seriously encroaching on them or their cubs for them to even care.
And it’s even in the name: bluff charge. They don’t want to fight, it’s a bluff. They want nothing to do with you. They want you to go away. Even most of their aggressive behaviour is trying to get you to simply go away.
So returning back to normal behavior, yes they are chill.
Based on how they evolved, I’m gonna assume that occasional aggression is pretty normal, just like with any other animal
You mean how they evolved eating berries, insects, rummaging in the dirt, etc? Their time for aggression is few and far between, mainly about mating and protecting their cubs.
Bears will definitely fight each other over the best fishing spot, berry patch, or other food source. During the fall they sometimes get a little more aggressive as they really want to fatten up.
Not that I want anyone imagining this, but it’s likely the bear was interrupted having a little snack, and wasn’t very happy about it.
And they also just killed some bear. They don’t actually know if it’s the killer bear, and to the public, it doesn’t matter.
@dudinax @Apollonius_Cone
They do know it was the killer bear because it was obviously tagged … which was how authorities were notified by GPS that there was an attack happening.
They were notified by an InReach device. Which I’m 100% sure the bear wasn’t using.
Bear wasn’t tagged - GPS SOS signal is likely how they were alerted. That being said, if they found an aggressive bear in the area, I’d be inclined to trust them. There isn’t really anything to gain by lying, especially if it leads to another hiker death from the actual bear.