Link.

I guess this guy didn't learn anything from the Tim Treadwell fiasco. A retired teacher should be smarter than this.

Thanks for the thread, I didn't know about Treadway. I'll look for Grizzly Man next time I go rent a movie. I've always liked to watch documentaries on grizzly bears.

Here is my bear story from last Friday:

I was sitting outside on the back porch late Friday evening with 3 dogs when Roddy went crazy all of the sudden, barking up a storm and "expressing" his anal glands (lovely).

My other two dogs soon joined in with the barking.

I wasn't sitting more than 6 feet away, and as I got out of the chair to walk over, I saw a massive black shape at the other side of the deck railing snarling and hissing. It was big bear. I watched as it took a swipe or two at Roddy, but the side railing on the deck interfered and stopped its blows.

I started to yell at the bear while I got the dogs inside. I thought it strange that it was behaving so aggressively. That's when I heard something making a scratching sound. I looked towards the sound and saw two little bear cubs quickly climbing up a nearby tree while the mama bear stood her ground at the back porch.

It wasn't very long before the mama finally turned to walk slowly away; her two cubs came down the tree and followed her. They crossed the street and heard my dogs barking from inside the house. Again the two cubs scurried up into a different tree while the mama bear turned and stomped her feet back and forth in place; sort of like claiming her ground. Within a minute or two they were off again into the forest.

There are two large scratch marks in the side railing of the porch. Roddy is lucky since the railing kept him from getting injured, or possibly worse.

Justin

Sat two teenagers down in front of the tv to watch "The Edge". Their comment was "This is kinda like Jurassic Park", to which I replied "Yes, but that is a real bear doing what real bears would do. After that, the room got quiet as they finished the movie. Then I asked them what they thought of the confrontations with the bear. They asked if that sort of thing would really happen. "Yes, it happens often." Long contemplative silence, then "That's a big bear, if it were me, I would just run faster". "Bears can outrun horses" I said. More silence, then "I would take a big gun with me" they decided. "They had a big gun in the plane" says I. More silence, then a shrug. Nice to see the expression from young minds who's little wheels and gears are spinning and whirring inside their noggins.

Other comments included "can you really do that with a needle?" (make a compass), "which side of a tree does moss grow on?", "you can eat a squirrel?", etc.

It is up to us to sow the seeds, to change the focus, to show them what is important. Even the cinema can be used as a positive tool.

There are two things that I can think of about this movie that I found far fetched. First the cordage they got to build those crazy traps. I know you can make cordage out of spruce tree roots but to make the amount of rope they used in the movie would take so much time. And of course when he makes Bart the bear impales itself on his wooden spear ("same principle as the deadfall") but it's a nice idea anyway. But then it's when they manage to make fur coats from the bear in such a small time span, I'm not a hunter nor an expert in fur management but I'd guess they would need some time to tan the skin or something... BTW Bart the bear was a Kodiak bear, they are known for being less aggressive then their cousins, the Grizzly bears though.

Frankie

Sorry to say but common sence is not one of the subjects in our schools of higher learning

Hi Norad,

Those bears seem quite relaxed and content, so do the folks in the photos. It's ashame that those pictures have been released if Mr Vandergaw has been meeting up with his furry friends for over 25 years now in his back yard of his cottage. There is always someone who wants to shoot the bears and send someone to court. The authorities should just leave this guy and his furry friends alone.

ummm...stuffed bears?

haha, i just cant bring myself to believe thie despite what Snopes says.

more importantly...The Edge. thanks for reminding me, i had been racking my brain trying to remember then name of this movie for a while.

Well, you could strip cambian layers out of those saplings the bear busted down pretty quick (a few hours would yield enough fiber strands to make that much rope), but you'd have to water cure it or something to get it in the proper condition. They certainly had the means, but you are right about the apparent timeline. Same with the hide, they could smoke cure it and break it easy enough, but the timing seems off. Books seem to do better at representing such sequencing, movies have limits on how they can portray such events, such as Redford's "Jeremiah Johnson" condensed event timing. Taking on a Griz or a Kodiak, or any other bear, with a few sticks does seem highly risky, but you make do with what you got, which is I think what the point was. They simply didn't have any options.

It seems to me, for continuity's sake, that they were eating the last of the bear meat when the coats were apparently done. That could indicate that considerable time had gone by (that would be a lotta bear to eat).

Yeah, it was a stretch at times. The important thing is it got those kids to thinking about it, and that was the whole point. Young minds properly harnessed can conceive of the impossible and make it reality.

Kodiak or Griz, either one will make a meal of you if you let 'em. You might chase off a black bear, but you ain't gonna scare off Ursus Horriblis or his cousin without Mr. Thundermaker or a big can of Eau de Peppy.

A teacher, retired or not, must (should/hopefully is) be educated, which can be different than smart...

Looks to be true. Here is the original source.

I wonder what this idiot thinks will happen when "his" bears encounter other humans? Once the bears lose their fear of people it will only be a matter of time until somebody--either bear or human--dies. Usually it's the bear. Who knows how many "problem" bears he has created over the years that had to be shot in other locations?

I hate to say it, but in the long run it might be better for everybody if this dope gets mauled.

Yep, all he's done is create an unnecessary hazard for others and issued a death sentence to the bears.

Dogs make better pets, and are already domesticated. Why in this day and age do people feel we need to domestic more wild animals? Most species are far better off without our help anyways.

Obviously the moron is only thinking about himself.

We have black bears here in the Sacramento mountains, but they're rarely seen, of course.

About 15 years ago, while living in the little town of Pecos, Texas, a black bear sauntered into the edge of town from the Davis Mountains. Some people saw it, called the City's animal control department, and then a small crowd scared the thing up a telephone pole. There it was, clinging to a transformer can, all the way up at the top.

Now, you might think the best thing to do would be to ask everyone to leave and back way away so the animal would come down. Then you could dart it and haul it back closer to whence it came. Nahhh. That's no good.

These folks decided they needed to dart the bear right where it was. I guess the foresight stopped at..."well, the bear will go to sleep". Just a little more thought was needed.

The bear scampered higher when shot. After a bit, it began to lose it's grip on the pole. It decided to start down but the medication was already taking its toll. The bear slid, then tumbled, from the bottom of the transformer can to the ground, landing on its shoulders and neck. This bear died either later that day or the next.

I wasn;t there to witness this "humane rescue", but one of the police officers was a good buddy and hunting companion of mine. All I'd heard was that a bear had come into the edge of town and animal control had to dart it. That evening he told me the rest of the story.

These well-intended townfolk were the same ones who, during one of the harshest winters in years, January 1997, forgot to lock the giraffes (2 of them) in their extra-tall little barn at the zoo. Two frozen-to-death African animals resulted. But, sorry, that's not a bear story.

for photos, go here:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearfarm.asp

and i didn't see the electric fence the main article referred to.

bsmith

I've heard somewhere that you can conserve meat for a relative long time as long as you scrape off a good layer of rotting flesh and the nest of happy squirming maggots