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Do you know what to do if you come face-to-face with a bear?
AccuWeather
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7/21/2023
Most bear encounters end with the bear going off on its own way, but in the rare case that a bear charges you, here's everything you need to know.
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00:00
Whether you are outside enjoying a weekend at a national park or relaxing at home, you need to
00:05
stay bear aware. These days they can be found anywhere from lounging on patios to swimming at
00:11
the beach to the natural habitat. Now the question is, what would you do if you saw a bear? Well,
00:17
Justin Swabedysen is joining us. He's a bear biologist from Grand Teton National Park. He's
00:24
here today to share with us the bear necessities. Thank you for joining us, Justin.
00:30
Well, thank you for having me. Well, first things first, are all bear encounters a threat to your
00:37
safety? No, they're not. In fact, most bear encounters are very benign. Oftentimes the
00:44
bear is going to see you, you're going to see the bear, and the bear is going to run away.
00:48
Bears often practice avoidance with humans, and certainly most bear encounters just end with
00:54
either going their separate ways. That's good to hear. And what attracts a bear to your home,
01:01
car, or campsite, and what can you do to prevent or minimize the visits?
01:06
The vast majority of bears are just looking for natural foods out there in their wild habitat.
01:14
The challenge becomes when humans and visitors to the national parks don't secure their attractants.
01:20
So if you leave out human foods, leave out cooking gear, other attractants that might
01:25
bring a bear into a developed area, that's where the problem really lies. Storing your food and
01:31
other cooking items appropriately and making sure that human foods are not accessible to bears,
01:36
that's the most important thing that we can do to protect bears. Well, if you do see a bear,
01:43
how should you respond? Should you assume they'll attack? You should never assume right off the bat
01:50
that the bear is going to attack. The best thing that you can do is to stop, stand your ground,
01:56
and start slowly backing away. If the bear starts moving towards you, talk to it. Let the bear know
02:03
that you're human and continue to slowly back away. Remain calm, never run from the bear.
02:10
If the bear were to charge you at close range, then stop, stand your ground, deploy bear spray
02:16
if you have it. But again, most bear encounters are going to be relatively benign. I'll say a
02:21
bear does charge you, you don't have bear spray, then what? So in that case, stand in your ground,
02:28
slowly talking to the bear, remaining calm, never running, that's the best course of action.
02:34
If in a very rare situation a bear were to take you to the ground, then play dead. You'll want
02:40
to lie on your stomach, interlace your fingers behind your neck, keep your pack on if you have
02:44
a pack on your back, and remain calm, lying on your stomach until the bear moves away.
02:50
Okay, good words of advice here. I don't know if I saw a bear running at me if I would stay calm,
02:54
but I'll take your words. Well, why are we seeing bears in more populated areas these days? You know,
03:00
we see videos of these bears even at the beach taking swims. Could you tell us more about that,
03:06
why we're seeing bears in more places now? What we're starting to see is as many of these natural
03:12
habitats are fully occupied by bears, bears are naturally dispersing into areas that happen to
03:18
have more human development. All right, great words of advice there. Justin Swabedesan,
03:24
bear biologist from Grand Teton National Park. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
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