Grizzly kills couple at Alaska campsite

Hello guys,

 

another tragic incidents...

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8371132/

I was expecting some sort of photo -- the absence of which makes me guess this is a general cautionary note to nature photogs.

 

PW

They were camping in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, perhaps they were from the petroleum industry! Just an off-color thought!

Approx time = 6 hrs (duration from when I first saw this in the news to its seemingly inevitable inclusion into the Nature Photography forum). I was figuring on 1 to 2 hrs tops.

I think it's appropriate news here, whether or not they were photographers. I'm sure many of those camping out in the ANWR are indeed photograhers, since if you go there you don't exactly have a wide choice of 5 star hotels (ore even no star motels...). You're going to be in a tent, just like these guys were.

 

Sad story. Seems they didn't do anything wrong. Neither did the bear really, that's pretty much what they do. Eat suff, including humans at times. That's why it's called being in the Wild. They are the top of the food chain, we're not.

When you go to the link Edgar has given go to the right and click on "* Alaska starts grizzly bear hunts using bait" and see what perspective you get from that.

 

It is indeed sad to hear of the demise of these two people - it is also sad to think of the demise of some 80 grizzly bears so that there will be more moose (perhaps) that can then also be shot.

 

We may not be top of the food-chain but we are certainly top of the killing-chain.

The couple were unlucky. Official says that they actually did store food properly. The act of killer bear was intentional agression. I spent two weeks in Alaska and camped out in bears country. The "store your food properly" is good idea but doesn't guarantee your safety. I was just lucky. Photographers use and apply "common sense" campaign in the wilderness. But When you are running out of luck...

I know this is do-able from a rock climbing perspective but surely if in the correct area with tree's it ought to be possible for people to sleep in the trees at night using a hanging portable bivvy ... climbers use them to sleep on the sides of cliff faces. It would be very easy to rig one of these in a tree and stay off the ground at night but I suppose people in their late 50's to early 60's aren't that keen on that sort of thing.

 

I am just thinking in a broader safety sense that tree bound camps might be a better option for tourists all round!

 

Best, Simon.

I don't think there are many suitable trees in the ANWR.

 

Even if there were, it's a fallacy that grizzlies can't climb trees. They aren't particularly good it it and they don't make a habit of it, but if they want to, they can. Younger bears are much better at it then older, heavier bears. People have been pulled out of trees by Grizzlies.

 

My guess is that in a typical season you'd have many more people killed and injured by falling out of trees than are killed or injured by bears.

 

Ants kill about 30 people each year in the US and bees kill about 100. Domestic dogs kill about 15 people. The most dangerous animal of all is the horse. They kill over 200 people each year - though you usually have to be sitting on one for that to happen! Each year there are 800,000 domestic dog bites serious enough to require hospitalization. You have to keep some perspective on these things.

Bob,

 

Granted, if there are no tree's in the area then thats a non option. On the other hand if you are in an area with tree's and you can rig a bivvy in a tree then your allot safer there than on the ground. Furthermore, the idea would be to leave your food either safely stowed away on the ground so that if they do get a whif and want a snack they can go after the food on the ground and leave you alone in your tree. If you took your food into the tree with you then you may well invite a bear into the branches.

 

Personally I would rather take my chances in a tree bivvy rather than sleep on the ground in the open ... believe me, I've done that in Africa and had visitors! As to your last point, the issue isn't that these things happen so infrequently as to be insignificant but rather they are, with some planning and foresight, largely preventable.

Somewhere I read that the summation of all the weight of the ants in the world equals the weight of all the people in the world. Thus each person you have his/her own weight in ants; as pets :); food (yuk); or whatever.

<tt><blockquote>Furthermore, the idea would be to leave your food either safely stowed away on the ground so that if they do get a whif and want a snack they can go after the food on the ground and leave you alone in your tree.</tt></blockquote>

<p>

I live and camp in prime bear country - there are approx 10,000 black bears in the immediate vicinity around Juneau, where I live.

<p>

Simon, I understand what you are saying so far as putting distance between you, the food, and bears, but leaving the food somewhere for the bears to get at isn't the way to do it. Due to their sense of smell, they are going to associate the smell you left at the bottom of the tree near the food with the smell of you up in the tree, and they are going to come up after more treats. Leaving food for them to find is not only going to draw them in to where you are, but is also going to teach them to associate the smell of humans with food, which will cause huge problems for other people who come along later.

 

<p>The proper thing to do is to put <b>all</b> your food in a bear-proof container and to store it well away from your campsite. I generally take the bear can and store it at least a quarter-mile from where I am going to be sleeping. Given that authorities here in Alaska say that the couple who were killed "did everything right", I would assume that means not storing open food anywhere near their tent, and were simply unlucky enough to cross paths with a bear which, well, was hungry enough to eat them. It certainly happens up here.

I read one report of a bear which became predatory on humans. After it was shot an autopsy revealed it had eaten a large plastic beverage bottle which had blocked its stomach and the bear was starving to death.

 

Predation on humans is rare and can be caused by all sorts of improbable factors - not all of which are unrelated to human activities.

 

The best way not to get eaten by a bear is not to go out in the woods where they are and certainly not to sleep there. If you do, you take every possible precaution, minimize your chances of being breakfast, but you can't ever be 100% safe. It's a gamble. Your odds of losing are very, very small, but not zero.

Lance,

 

I agree with all you say my friend and if you read carefully you will see that I did say

 

" ... leave your food either (safely stowed) away on the ground"

 

This statement implies proper stowage of the food as I have stated and not simply leaving it strewn on the picnic blanket beneath a tree. You may well have read into my comments something that I did not intend but for all thats worth we are agreed. I have had occasion to spend a deal of time on Safari in places like Botswana and Zimbabwe and have a fair idea about what safety procedures and precautions might need to be taken in the vicinity of big game and the like in regard to sleeping, campsites and food.

 

Again, and as you rightly assumed, my point is merely to say if you can place yourself out of easy reach then it is preferable to placing yourself within easy reach; bottom line.

 

Best, Si.

Simon,

 

I wasn't trying to single you out or to say you don't know safe practices. Just wanted to put across that food shouldn't be stored anywhere near a campsite in bear country.

Lance,

 

No worries ... you did quote me however so I felt you were addressing me directly.

As to relevancy - the woman who was killed was the ex-wife of a very well-known nature and wildlife photographer. A nice lady. Her -ex, in a strange, almost bizarre connection, was at the very time of the incident 500 miles away at McNeil River photographing bears.

 

This gives me pause - these are the fourth and fifth people I personally knew to be killed by bears.

 

AND, a photo.net person that we all read was due to be on the HulaHula River, where this all happened, at about the same time.

 

So I guess, one thought is to take nothing for granted.

 

TW

Just part of the wilderness experience.

Adding to Bob's comment regarding griz climbing trees ... according to Stephen Herrero's "Bear Attacks: Their Cause and Prevention", the world griz record for pulling a human out of a tree is just over 30 feet off the ground.

 

Roughly three stories up.

 

Ain't going to be any appropriate trees of this sort in ANWR ...

One should not be camping unless heavily armed in bear country.

 

Your personal safety should be a higher priority to you, than any of the currently popular ideas regarding the "rights" or sanctity of non-human forms of animal life.

 

If it isn't, and you choose to camp unarmed in bear country, then you have volunteered to be considered as prey.

THis is way late coming but I just stumbled across it. Being from interior alaska, I feel I must add my 2 cents. It was a tragedy that the two people died when they tried to do everything correct, including cooking dinner several miles upstream. The couple had a gun, but what happens is a grizz will stand up and pounce on top of a tent, not come through the side as we may imagine. So, imagine being in your bed, and the covers are over your head and someone pounces on you. You are helpless. This thing does happen and I agree that a large caliber weapon should be brought, but there are no promises. Now the likes of Timothy Treadwell-( the other white meat) as Alaskans say, was his fault. Can you imagine the arrogance of someone who thinks he can talk to animals and believes that they are your friend?! It is true he contributed much to the study of bears but that was a not his intent. He claimed he was protecting the bears from poachers, although there had never been a poaching incident ever, anywhere within hundreds of miles of the area. He was protecting as a " cat lady" may keep 100 cats in her home, claiming to be their beneficiary. The grizzly population has increased greatly, in alaska, and especially in the interior here, 8 have been killed in defense of life. On the north slope where I work, the Muskox have been in decline, guess what, earlier in the spring, a single grizz killed 6 calves. So much for the petoleum industry being the cause. Six calves from a herd of 40 animals, pretty significant loss. Food is expensive here, Moose is a large part of our diet and there are more fed lands and parks here where grizzlies thrive than anyother place in lesser 48. So don't whine about killing some grizzlies for more moose. This is people home, not everybody elses National Park. Don't forget that. It is easy to talk about the wilderness experiance when you visit it and live in Seattle or another large city. Live here and try to raise a family, I have been here for 37 years. There is plenty of land here, and the bear population will always flucuate. Look at www.adn.com and do search for Bear Man. The article is about a guy feeding grizzlies near Wasilla. This guy is trouble. I love seeing and photographing grizzlies, I just don't have the treehugger mentality of no hunting and no development. I lost that when GreenPeace shows up in Prudhoe Bay with a huge deisel powered boat with a helicopter, and protesting oil exploration. If they sailed up, I may have taken notice. They had no problem eating in our dining rooms. I am sorry this is a rant and less about photography. Comments welcome