For the first time in nearly a decade, a roughly 2,500-square-mile county in Alberta, Canada, has issued a county-wide \u201cbear warning,\u201d after numerous reports of people being bluff-charged by grizzlies and other dicey situations.<\/p>\n
Kananaskis County in Alberta is under a county-wide warning, and some popular hiking trails there have been shut down as grizzlies and black bears gather to gorge on buffaloberries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen said there hasn’t been a Kananaskis-wide bear warning since 2016, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC)\u00a0reported<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Bears Plus Crowds Equals Trouble<\/p>\n Alberta resident and bear safety expert\u00a0Kim Titchener told Cowboy State Daily that the bears have really\u00a0been\u00a0piling in to feast on berries because of a bumper crop this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having bears come in from everywhere,\u201d Titchener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s the founder of the Bear Safety and More organization, and has also spent time in Wyoming\u2019s grizzly country.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bears in Alberta have entered what\u2019s called hyperphagia, she said. That\u2019s basically a\u00a0pig-out phase<\/a>\u00a0during which bears eat as much as possible\u00a0to pack\u00a0on fat in preparation for hibernation. \u00a0<\/p>\n The trouble is, the bushes\u00a0loaded with berries\u00a0are thick around hiking trails, which have become increasingly crowded, she said. As in Wyoming, more people than ever are taking to the outdoors in Alberta. \u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s putting more people,\u00a0many of them inexperienced in bear country,\u00a0in proximity\u00a0to\u00a0bears.\u00a0<\/p>\n The CBC hasn\u2019t reported anybody\u00a0being\u00a0mauled yet, but there have been numerous close calls.<\/p>\n Keeping people safe from bears, and vice\u00a0versa, is an uphill battle at times, Titchener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming when we\u2019re seeing high levels of bear activity on the trails, and the people aren\u2019t doing the things they\u2019re supposed to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2018Are Your Planning On Filming Your Own Death?\u2019<\/p>\n Titchener is a big advocate of bear spray for defense against possible attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n The problem is, these days\u00a0too many tourists in the outdoors seem more concerned about getting cool bear videos on their cellphone cameras than they are about safety, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI ask, \u2018Why are you reaching for your phone? Why aren\u2019t you reaching for your bear spray?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201c\u2019What, are you planning on filming your own death?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n What it boils down to is that bears don\u2019t like surprises, Titchener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In nearly every\u00a0case, close calls are because bears\u00a0\u2014\u00a0grizzlies or black bears\u00a0\u2014are \u201cacting defensively\u201d because somebody came along and interrupted\u00a0a\u00a0berry feast, she said.<\/p>\n Staying safe can be as simple people staying alert and being noisy enough to let bears\u00a0know\u00a0someone\u2019s\u00a0coming, she said.<\/p>\n There are many instances of \u201cpeople walking quietly, people hiking with their ear buds in,\u201d and the like, Titchener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n More Black Bear, Dog Incidents<\/p>\n While grizzlies are known to be bolder and more defensive, Titchener said there have been more incidents involving black bears in Canada, as well as the Lower 48.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that black bears are getting meaner, but rather\u00a0a matter of more people behaving badly around bears.\u00a0<\/p>\n Loose dogs can be a recipe for disaster, and there have been some run-ins between dogs and black bears this year, she noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Titchener also recalled a harrowing incident in Jasper National Park, Alberta,\u00a0in April 2023 when a black bear\u00a0snatched a dog<\/a>\u00a0right in front of its owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n The dogs were off leash, and the bear initially bolted when one of the dogs chased it, Parks Canada reported at the time.<\/p>\n The tables turned, and the dog came running back toward its owners with the bear on its heels, Parks Canada reports. When the second dog started barking at it, the bear attacked, grabbing one of the dogs in its jaws.<\/p>\n One of the hikers emptied a can of bear spray at close range, and when that didn\u2019t work started pummeling the bear with the empty can. That also didn\u2019t work, and the bear carried the dog off into the woods.<\/p>\n Wildlife agents tracked the bear down and killed it the next day and discovered that it had stashed the dog\u2019s carcass nearby, according to reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teton County \u2018Bear-Resistant\u2019 Bin Wasn\u2019t<\/p>\n In Canada, as in the U.S., there also\u00a0is\u00a0the persistent problem of bears being drawn into town by garbage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bear-resistant garbage cans are\u00a0a\u00a0must in towns and neighborhoods that butt up against bear country, Titchener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n She noted that in Wyoming, Teton County has made good progress with bear-resistant garbage cans, although it had a hiccup a couple of years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2023, about\u00a01,000 garbage containers that were certified bear resistant were distributed around Teton County, but it turns out they weren’t. A\u00a0grizzly ripped one apart<\/a>\u00a0in a live test.<\/p>\n \u201cThat bear-resistant bin wasn\u2019t as good as was initially thought,\u201d \u00a0Titchener said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n