The bear essentials
Local authorities provide tips on how to avoid becoming a meal

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Jun 04/99) - What better way to ruin a peaceful hike through Nahanni National Park than to haphazardly startle a 300-kilogram grizzly bear?

Nahanni is home to grizzlies and black bears. They're deceptively fast, powerful swimmers and black bears can climb quite efficiently, said Nahanni National Park senior warden Carl Lafferty.

"They're extremely intelligent from everything I've read. That's why at Nahanni, we go to great lengths to ensure people are careful," Lafferty said. "When we talk about bear management, we're actually talking about people management."

When encounters do take place, the area can be cordoned off for long periods of time. In an extreme case, Hell Roaring Creek was closed off for three years in the mid-1990s while a grizzly reigned supreme, Lafferty said. The other option is to relocate or kill the bears. In 1992, a three-year-old grizzly had to be shot because it had lost its fear of people. Although it has been done, it's a last resort.

"We don't like the idea of having to kill bears. That's not why we're there," he said, adding that in his nine years at the park he's never once had a negative experience with the beasts.

When travelling in the park, or anywhere in bear country, Lafferty recommends visitors take many precautions to avoid bears. First of all, he suggests that tourists travel in groups and make a reasonable amount of noise. Bears are most dangerous when startled, protecting cubs and defending food, he noted.

There are many tell-tale signs that a bear is in the area, such as tracks, large droppings, holes dug in the ground and, since bears like to rub and gnaw on trees, there will be clumps of hair and claw and teeth marks in the tree bark, Lafferty said.

Campsites should be made far from areas with the aforementioned conditions. Ideally, the campers' food will be dehydrated and packed in air-tight containers. That's what the wardens use themselves while on canoe trips through the park, according to Lafferty. "We don't have all these attractive food odours," he said. "We'll even take extra measures to keep our food stored up in trees."

He goes so far as to bring a second set of clothes to sleep in because those worn earlier tend to absorb the odour of the day's meals. As well, every scrap of leftover food or food waste should be burnt to ashes in the fire, he advised. Although a camper may never see the consequences of leaving food waste behind, it's quite possible the next unfortunate camper to come along will, he said. Because bears often snort and chomp their gums, a hiker will often hear a bear before seeing it, Lafferty noted.

"That's a good time to turn back the way you came," he said, adding that tourists are encouraged to report all bear sightings and carcass sightings since those will attract bears.

He does recommend that travellers carry bear spray, but not to readily rely on it.

"It's not foolproof. It shouldn't give you a false sense of security," he said. "It shouldn't replace common sense."

"Cracker shells" are another bear repellent that travellers sometimes use, but they also have a potential downside. Lafferty said people have been known to shoot them horizontally and start fires or over-shoot the bear and accidentally send in their direction after the shell detonates behind the bear.

There are conflicting theories about how to handle a bear attack. Some recommend playing dead while others swear by fighting back. In the wild, there's not always going to be somebody there to turn to for immediate help.

"You have to be self-reliant. We expect people to take on a certain amount of responsibility while they're in the park," Lafferty said, adding that the majority of tourists to Nahanni Park are generally well-educated and well- prepared. "People have been really careful up to this point. Giving good information to visitors is important."