Griz B gone!

I grew until my early 20's up in the north of British Columbia and black bears were (are) common; cougars and grizzlies are around but you won't see them every year. There weren't any cops out there at the time (one would make the 1.5-hr trip out from town every Thursday) so any bears etc. which became problems tended to become community BBQ. Mostly they were left alone until they did become problems though, which was pretty rare.

I was in training for cross-country skiing, so I'd be going on 3-hour jogs alone on roads where houses can be several miles apart. I didn't see any bears when out jogging, but I know people who did, and I certainly saw them out on the block when working and several times out of the kitchen window.

You just deal with it. A bear is not usually interested in people; they're not hunters by nature. They'll hunt something bigger than a fish if they have to, but in general you mostly only have to worry about garbage bears (created by brain-damaged tourists who ignore garbage and food handling warnings) and mothers with cubs. Mothers with cubs are dangerous--very, very dangerous. And yet, I know at least 2 people who got between a sow grizzly and her cubs and managed to just back away slowly. One admitted to getting back to his truck and realizing he needed new pants, however.

You're usually in more danger from some trigger-happy yahoo from the city on a hunting trip than you are from the wildlife.

Now I live a few blocks from Vancouver's downtown East Side. Much more frightening. People are the deadliest predators.


Torben

i was raised in Vancouver before it became Hongcouver.
I never saw the bad parts.