Jerry, the reason they warn against running from bears is that those animals will instinctively give chase, and they can outrun any human (I believe they can hit a top speed of about 30 mph for a short distance). The best chance a human has in a face-to-face encounter is to wave his/her arms, make a lot of noise, and try to frighten the bear. Generally, bears don’t like humans and will go away. They will only attack if wounded/ill, if they believe we mean them harm, or if cubs are perceived to be in danger. My stepdaughter lives in Anchorage and she gave us a “bear in-service” the first time we visited. 🙂
Susan there is a very interesting documentary about a disturbed man who lived in the wild with grizzly bears for 14 years with no weapons of any kind! Werner Herzog directed the film called ‘Grizzly Man’, not for small children.
Do not run away from bears?! If there is a bear running at me I can promise one thing… I will not be in that spot for long!
I wonder if someone would actually approach a bear without this sign?
Yep, and even with the sign. Every year there are people who get themselves killed because they do stupid things in the bear’s territory.
Jerry, the reason they warn against running from bears is that those animals will instinctively give chase, and they can outrun any human (I believe they can hit a top speed of about 30 mph for a short distance). The best chance a human has in a face-to-face encounter is to wave his/her arms, make a lot of noise, and try to frighten the bear. Generally, bears don’t like humans and will go away. They will only attack if wounded/ill, if they believe we mean them harm, or if cubs are perceived to be in danger. My stepdaughter lives in Anchorage and she gave us a “bear in-service” the first time we visited. 🙂
what about playing dead.
Oh, well I suppose if I peed myself he wouldn’t want to come near me anyway.
Susan there is a very interesting documentary about a disturbed man who lived in the wild with grizzly bears for 14 years with no weapons of any kind! Werner Herzog directed the film called ‘Grizzly Man’, not for small children.
Does anyone want to guess how he died?
– EJ
Does Stephen Colbert know about these signs?