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Tip o' the Day

Most info handed out by official agencies relative to human activities in grizzly country is a whole bunch of "don'ts". Even most of their "dos" seem to me like "don'ts" in disguise.

"Do hike in groups," actually says, "Don't hike alone."

"Do hang your food ten feet high and four feet out from the bole of a tree," actually says, "Don't leave your food piled within reach of a bear, you dork!"

Personally I like my own set of "dos." But my "dos" comes with certain elements of risk. For instance, I've been known to hike alone. I'm also pleased to hike (or ride) with compatible companions. But if I have the opportunity to go and can find no one to accompany me, then I'll go it alone -- and be glad! After all, at my advancing age, it's entirely possible that some day my heart or lungs or legs or prostrate will say "To hell with it" and I'll wish I'd climbed a few more ridges or floated a few more rivers.

On the other hand, if you are fearful of the great unknown and wish only a risk-free environment, then by all means stay ensconced in your townhouse high rise, throw your four deadbolts on the front door each evening, lock your windows (including the safety latches), draw your blinds, close your drapes and turn on your TV to the Discovery channel where you'll find what you missed and I found.

Are there risks from pursuing adventure amid my mountains? Of course. I was once in a seven-person hiking group who encountered a grizzly bear sow with two cubs. Boy, was that dangerous -- for the grizzly! She could hardly get her cubs out of that huckleberry patch fast enough! I also once bumped into a sow grizzly with one cub while hiking alone. She wasn't nearly so swift in retreat -- not as swift as I would've been had I a place to go.

So, Roland, how'd it turn out? Well, you can go to my website: www.rolandcheek.comand read the first chapter of Learning To Talk Bear and find out. Suffice it to say, however, that 25 years after the incident, I'm sitting at my computer writing about it, so it couldn't have been too bad. And I'll bet the average reader poring over this weblog hasn't gone that long without experiencing some sort of fright on the freeway, or in his or her apartment building.

The point is to cut down on your risk by using commonsense and logic. Do drive defensively, Don't drink and drive. Do participate in a "neighborhood watch." Do think ahead.

You already do all the above? Good for you. So do I. It's just that my neighborhood and its trails aren't quite so dangerous as yours.

* * *

A weblog about an animal that is arguably the most powerful land carnivore on earth seems a perfect place to insert a plug for my two popular books on grizzly bears. First is Learning To Talk Bear -- our best selling title, now in its 5th printing.

WHAT! A GRIZZLED BEAR IN GERMANY?

Bruno's parents were Jerka and Joze. They were of Slovenian origin by way of the Italian Alps. By birth Bruno was as Italian as minestrone, but Austria laid claim to him, Switzerland hosted him, and Germany preempted him.

Bruno was a bear; a brown bear; the only type of bears known in Europe. See a photo of him and we Americans would mistake Bruno for a Glacier Park grizzly.

Bruno was the first bear sighted in Germany in 170 years.

Bruno was shot and killed in the Rotwand area of Bavaria on June 26, 2006 after an arduous, media-frenzied, two-month chase by biologists from an Austrian Bear Emergency Team bent on capturing and/or aversive conditioning the animal to avoid humans. During the two month chase through parts of Austria, Switzerland, and Bavaria, Bruno, as do many celebreties, attracted his own cadre of well-wishing "groupies" hoping to associate closely with the animal and protect him from harm.

As often happens with Montana grizzlies, Bruno's lengthy odyssey through Austria, Switzerland, and Germany was not exactly unrecorded. For instance, he left 32 domestic sheep and goats slain or injured in his wake, romped through nine commercial beehives, raided five chicken houses and rabbit hutches, and damaged silage bales, game feeding stations, and fences. Taken altogether, Bruno proved a trial to Tyrolean farmers and rural dwellers. But he captured the imagination of citizens in four nations along both sides of the most charismatic mountain range in all of Europe. After all, the grizzled bear was the first bear spotted in Germany for 17 decades!

Bruno's passage makes a body wonder how California -- the state with the Golden Bear as its emblem -- would respond to a grizzly bear wandering the shores of Lake Tahoe. On the other hand it's only been half as long since the last grizzly roamed California than since the last German spotted their version of "Old Ephraim," so likely Californians aren't sufficiently wistful to deserve another grizzly.

Though the chronology of Bruno's life was brief, it was hardly devoid of color. Here are a few excerpts from the frustrated Austrian Bear Emergency Team's advice relative to the animal already well on his way to prominent mention in European history texts:

May 11, 2006: "Our recommendations to the administration are to capture, radiocollar and aversive condition the bear. The main concern is that the bear will again enter villages and break into stables adjacent to houses and thus create situations with a high potential for accidents (close bear human encounters). The bear is classified as food conditioned, that means he connects food with human houses and settlements and therefore actively seeks out these locatons. However, the bear is not habituated to people and avoids direct encounters."

Up to May 21, 2006: "The bear repeatedly enters human settlements. He is unpredictable in his movements and does not return to a place where he caused damage. Especially the latter behavior makes it almost impossible to capture this bear with traps."

May 22, 2006: "The bear raids a chicken coop next to a house in the village of Grainan. Due to the fact that the bear keeps entering villages and because it is highly unlikely to capture it, we do not believe aversive conditioning is possible. In addition, we suspecxt this bear has already shown nuisance behavior before it came to Austria. The repeated success the bear had when seeking food near or in human settlements suggests this behavior is already strongly imprinted. We believe it is highly unlikely to successfully change the bear's behavior by aversive conditioning. We rank the bear as very dangerus because it keeps creating dangerous situations and we do not believe that it can be deterred successfully. We recommend the removal of the bear. Because we see no chance to trap the bear, we recommend issuing a shooting permit for local hunters." [*Note: hunters wanted nothing to do with destroying an animal for which they were rooting.]

May 29, 2006: "A DNA test identifies the bear as JJ1, the young of Jurka and Joze, two bears from the re-introduction project in Trentino, Italy. At the same time his history becomes known; together with his mother Jurka, JJ1 repeatedly entered villages and after family break-up he entered villages on his own. He had been aversively conditioned several times when returning to a location he had caused damage."

Around May 31, 2006: "Due to the public resistance against the shooting of JJ1, the StMUGV seeks for alternative methods to capture the bear alive. Norwegian colleagues advise us to contact the Finnish Bear Emergency Team who uses trained dogs to find and stop a bear. We suggest hiring the Finnish Bear Emergency Team in order to actively search for the bear, stop the bear and tranquilize the bear with a dart gun by an experienced veterinarian. Subsequently the bear can be tranferred to a suitable enclosure. Due to the past history of the bear (including the events in Italy) we exclude radiocollaring and aversive conditioning as a suitable management option."

June 23, 2006: "The Finnish Bear Emergency Team stops the capture attempts. The bear is still considered very dangerous. Because we do not see any chance to capture the bear in order to remove him from the wild, we again recommend removal by shooting."

June 26, 2006: "JJ1 unexpectedly changes his behavior and in addition to being food conditioned he also becomes habituated -- he suddenly tolerates humans at close range. Furthermore the bear for the first time does not rapidly change its position. At the instigation of the StMUGV the district office of Miesbach authorizes a special team to shoot the bear.

 

That's the Old Country grizzled bear story capsulated. In legal terms, I suppose what I've just given you would be considered "a brief". But it hardly conveys the [real] story; a tale so poignant -- and so recognizable to folks who live in New World grizzly country -- that I'd be derelict if I never continued Bruno's odyssey next week....

 

It is in grateful acknowledgment that I must tell you Tomiki (no second name), a genuine bear enthusiast, first alerted me to Bruno's story, then provided much of the research material for this three-part weblog. Should you wish to contact this caring lady, her email address is:

tomikibear@centurytel.net

I suspect Tomiki would love to hear from you

 

Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:

www.rolandcheek.com

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