Bear safety workshop covers the importance of respect for bears

A bear safety workshop was held at the gun range on Spur Road last Wednesday, July 24, as one of the first events scheduled for Wrangell's annual Bearfest. Wrangell resident Robert Johnson led the workshop. He has had a lot of experiences with bears over the years, he said, and told everyone early in the workshop that having respect for bears was an important part of staying safe around them.

"You just have to be in awe of these animals and show them the utmost respect," he said. "As long as you treat them with respect, and they've been treated with respect all their lives then they're good. You get a bad apple and it's carrying some chunks of lead from previous encounters, or an arrow shaft as I've seen happen, they get mean and angry."

Alaska is home to three main species of bears: Brown, black, and polar bear. Polar bears typically live much farther north, according to a teachers' guide by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, but Southeast Alaska is home to both brown and black bears. According to the guide, there are roughly 100,000 black bears in Alaska as well as 32,000 brown bears. Johnson said that, bears should never be underestimated. In his experience, he said, brown bears are easy to read, but black bears have the best "poker face" he has ever seen. A brown bear will usually make it obvious when they are upset, he said, but black bears are a real challenge to read and predict what they will do. On top of that, he added, bears are surprisingly quiet creatures for their size. It is easy for a bear to walk right up on a person without them noticing. A bear, especially a wounded bear, is a very dangerous animal. That is why he is such a big advocate for bear spray, he said. It helps scare off a bear without shooting it, which is likely to only enrage the creature.

"Since pepper spray has been developed there's been fewer deaths by bears," he said. "I know for certain there's fewer dead bears, and I'm a big advocate of bears. I'm a big fan of them."

Bear spray works just like a normal can of pepper spray. When the safety is removed and the can's trigger is pulled, a cloud of irritating pepper is shot into the face of an attacker. Johnson said that on top of being an irritant that gets into a bear's eyes and nose, the hissing sound from the can and the sudden appearance of a large cloud in front of them helps scare them off. From a bear's perspective, he said, their potential prey just vanished right in front of them.

Johnson took his audience out onto the gun range with several cans of expired bear spray to let them practice using it. Even when not directly in the cloud of the spray, several people began to cough when the first spray was released. Johnson said that just a quick spray from the can is usually enough to scare off a bear, and that it is important to conserve as much of the can as possible. Bears that have been hit with pepper spray before are likely to remember, he said, and will usually wander away from a person they see with a can of spray in their hands. Other bits of advice he offered on bear spray included to always keep it on hand when out hiking, on one's belt or in a pocket, and not buried inside one's backpack. Another important piece of advice was to always keep the safety cap on the can until it was time to use it. Bear spray is a weapon, just a like a gun, and needs to be handled carefully.

Johnson also gave his audience advice on what to do to avoid bear encounters. When walking in the woods, be sure to make noise to keep bears aware of where you are. While a common piece of advice, Johnson said that "bear bells" were not a good idea. Wearing or ringing bells while hiking may keep adult bears away, but the jingling sound could attract small cubs who are curious about the new sound.

If one encounters a bear in their path, Johnson said that it is important to not make eye contact. Bears will see that as a challenge, and everything about encountering a bear comes back to respect. A person should lower their head a little, look away but keep the bear in their peripheral vision, and take a step back. Speak calmly to the bear and wait for it to move on. Running away is never a good idea, in any circumstance, he said. That will only encourage the bear to give chase.

Lastly, if a bear gets close enough, a good option to drive it off is to hit its nose. The nose is one of the most sensitive and important parts of a bear's anatomy, Johnson said. Bears understand this, too. He has seen fights between two bears that got very gruesome, he said, but they very rarely hurt each others' noses. It is just understood, he said, that if their nose gets damaged they lose one of their most important tools for survival. Giving a bear a smack on the nose is very likely to make it take pause, he said.

"We're talking about bears that are a problem to you, not bears that are just out wandering around," Johnson said. "I mean, don't use your pepper spray as license to go up to a bear to take a close-up photograph ... Show respect to bears."