Bear spray

“A 70 year-old woman was killed by a bear this week-end while fishing. I'll cut and paste an article or two.

CBC (and so it must be true) interviewed Dr. Stephen Herrero of the University of Calgary whose book is mentionned in the second article.

Dr. Herrero has forty years experience in bear attack research and says that bear spray is effective in 80 - 90 per cent of Bear/human encounters with the higher number for grizzlies.

He says firearms were an effective defense tool in 65 per cent of cases. I haven't read his book (just heard about it - published by McClennan and Stewart) and so I don't know if that statistic is broken down by firearm types and caliber - obviously the use of, say a ,22 would offer just about no protection, while a ,300WM might be 100% effective. I doubt that anyone at the CBC would know enough about the subject to ask an intelligent question of that sort, while they would jump at the chance to diss guns.

The spray beta was interesting and Herrero said that it was counter-intuitive, but the case. He said that there were no data about bears being further infuriated by the spray. He said effectiveness was equal in both bear aggressive and bear defensive encounters.”

“Olympic hopeful killed by bear
Biathlete Mary Beth Miller found dead at Quebec training site
Peter Hum, with files from Kate Jaimet
The Ottawa Citizen; Citizen News Services




Vincent Fradet, le Soleil / Conservation officer Claude Desrochers displays a cage that will be used to try to trap a black bear that is believed to have mauled and killed biathlete Mary-Beth Miller, near Valcartier, Que. Ms. Miller's body was found Sunday.


Northern News Services Ltd. / Mary Beth Miller, a 24-year-old biathlete from the Northwest Territories, was killed in an apparent bear attack while running on a training course in Valcartier, Que. Her body was found just before midnight Sunday with a bear bite on her neck. Black bear tracks were spotted near her body.

An international-level Canadian biathlete, who inspired youth in the Northwest Territories with her enthusiasm, was found dead and mauled by a bear Sunday after she failed to return from a training run.

Military police at CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City, were alerted Sunday night after Mary Beth Miller, 24, disappeared on a morning run through the woods. Searchers found her body about 800 metres from a main road just before midnight, a bear bite on her neck and bear tracks nearby.

"She was the most precious thing in our lives and we're having a heck of a time here," said Ms. Miller's mother, Mary Carol Miller, from her home in Yellowknife. "She taught us all to live each day, each moment."

Ms. Miller's two brothers and her sister were in Yellowknife yesterday at their mother's house, along with friends and neighbours who lent their support.

"She was full of vitality," Mrs. Miller said. "There are going to be people all over this country who have bumped into her at races and different things, who she's encouraged."

Ms. Miller, who started her run at 9 a.m., was reported missing by her trainer at 11 p.m.

"All the evidences tend to show she was killed by the bear," said Sarah Coup-Fabiano, a spokeswoman for the Haute-St-Charles police department. She said an autopsy would be conducted to clarify whether Ms. Miller was killed by a bear or whether she collapsed, for example of a heart attack, before being attacked.

A bear search was under way yesterday. Ms. Coup-Fabiano pointed out that two cyclists were attacked by a bear on the same path two weeks ago. Permanent signs posted around the site warn athletes not to train alone, but long-distance athletes often have a difficult time finding a training partner. Ms. Miller was found with a headset stereo, which investigators say may have prevented her from hearing the bear.

The base has closed the trails until further notice.

"Yes, it's dangerous," Ms. Bedard said in an interview with LCN, a French-language all-news channel. "But on the other hand, it's the beauty of the sport to be in the forest."

Ms. Miller was born in Kitchener, Ont., and moved with her family to Yellowknife, N.W.T., when she was six. She took up biathlon at age 18 and also loved mountain biking, something she incorporated into her training.

Ms. Miller was the top Canadian at the 1997 World Winter University Games in South Korea. The sport, which combines shooting and cross-country skiing, requires both highly developed skills and cardio-vascular stamina, and athletes usually reach their peak at age 30, said Veli Niinimaa, executive director of Biathlon Alberta.

"At 24, she was still progressing upwards," said Mr. Niinimaa. "She was not quite at the national team level, but just below the national team level."

He said Ms. Miller could have been a contender for Canada's Olympic team and was training full-time to aim for that goal.

"All the plans and financing and support systems were in place for her to focus on training," he said.

Ms. Miller was on the Northwest Territories biathlon relay team that won the bronze medal in junior women's competition at the 1995 Canada Games. She progressed into the women's category and in 1999 won another bronze medal at the Canadian championships.

"At age 23 she was one of the top three in the Canadian championships," Mr. Niinimaa said.

Ms. Miller graduated last year from Augustana University College in Camrose, Alta., where she took part in the college's intensive cross-country skiing program. She spent the past winter racing on the Alberta Cup circuit, and in February she competed in the North American Cup at Salt Lake City. She moved to CFB Valcartier last week for a summer of training at the Miriam Bedard Centre, an area that includes 115 kilometres of running and cycling trails.

Ms. Miller would have frequently seen bears during her time training in Alberta, Mr. Niinimaa said. He said all biathletes who train in the Rockies are briefed by rangers on how to handle bear encounters.

"They see bears on a daily basis."

However, Mr. Niinimaa added, this is the first time he has heard of a bear encounter at the training facility in Valcartier. Although rifle shooting is part of the biathlon, Mr. Niinimaa said Ms. Miller would not have been carrying her rifle during a training run. Even if she had, he said, the .22-calibre rifle would have been useless against a bear.

"It's a feeble rifle. The fur in thick parts would stop a bullet," he said.

The weekend attack has baffled wildlife officials, who say black bears rarely attack humans.

"It's not normal," said Gilles Lamontagne, a biologist with the province's parks and wildlife agency.

While more black bears are often roaming the woods at this time of year in search of mates and to stake out territory, they usually pay little attention to humans unless provoked, said Mr. Lamontagne.

"Often it's the bears that are surprised. People come up on them quickly so they try to react to defend themselves."

News of Ms. Miller's death shocked friends and colleagues in Yellowknife.

"She was so keen and enthusiastic," said Miriam Green, president of the Northwest Territories Biathlon Association.

Ms. Miller held clinics for younger athletes on everything from motivation to in-line skating, Mrs. Green said. In March this year, when young biathletes from the Northwest Territories travelled to a national competition in Valcartier, Ms. Miller picked them up the airport and looked after them until their coach arrived, Mrs. Green recalled.

"She was a very young, very strong-willed person," she said. "We'll miss her, that's for sure."

"She was really friendly and really outgoing -- just a really fun person to be around," said Moira Moser, a fellow biathlete from the Northwest Territories who travelled to South Korea in 1997 with Ms. Miller.

Mrs. Moser said that while in South Korea, Ms. Miller "instantly" made friends with athletes from around the world and kept in touch with them. She said the camaraderie of the sport was its greatest attraction for Ms. Miller.

Black Bears Rarely Attack People

Black bears can bite through trees thicker than a man's arm and kill a full-grown steer with a bite to the neck.

Although they rarely attack humans, and are less ferocious than grizzlies, black bears are not to be treated lightly, as the death of Mary Beth Miller tragically proves.

In his 1985 book Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance, university of Calgary professor Stephen Herrero reviews bear attacks and killings in North America from 1900 to 1980. In that time span, black bears killed 23 people -- while grizzlies killed about twice that many. Considering that there are half a million black bears in North America, Mr. Herrero concludes, "rarely do black bears use their power to injure or kill people."

Mr. Herrero's research shows it is wild bears, not those accustomed to people, who are more likely to attack, and try to eat, a human.

Mr. Herrero advises those attacked by a black bear not to play dead. Climbing a tree is also not a good option, as black bears are good climbers.

"If a black bear stalks and attacks during the day, a person should try to fight it off using any available weapon. Even young children have fought enough to have deterred potentially fatal black bear attacks," Mr. Herrero writes.”

“Search is on for black bear that killed 70-year-old woman
Last Updated: Monday, June 2, 2008 | 11:38 AM ET Comments1Recommend0CBC News
Quebec conservation officers are on the hunt for a bear that killed a 70-year-old woman in Abitibi on the weekend.

Provincial police say Alexandre Lavoie went looking for his wife Cécile on Friday evening when she didn't return from a solo trip to a fishing hole along the Theo River near La Sarre, about 575 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

Police spokesman Gregory Gomez del Prado said Lavoie, 73, found his wife's body and spotted a bear nearby.

He called police, but when officers located the bear, it seemed aggressive, and night had already fallen, making it hard to see.

Police located Lavoie's body Saturday when they returned to the area with conservation officers. Lavoie was carrying bear spray when she went fishing, del Prado said.

Conservation officers aren't sure whether the bear was male or female, or whether there were cubs nearby. It's unusual for black bears to show aggression towards humans except in certain circumstances, and Lavoie's death "is not a common attack," del Prado said.

The mother of five and grandmother of 11 had extensive hunting and fishing experience in the area.

Authorities are tracking the bear and set traps, hoping to find the animal and get answers about Lavoie's death.

Bear-mauling deaths are rare in Quebec, with four people killed in the last 25 years, according to provincial wildlife officials.

The last fatal black bear attack was in Val d'Or, in 2003, another Abitibi town.”

“I'm sad for those folks.

Herrero's book is really illuminating.”

“Sad cases. Saw a program over the weekend on polar bear attacks in Svarbard. They theorize that certain sounds affect the bears, which then become aggressive. In one case they theorize a C130 cargo plane set the bear off, and in another the sound of an outboard motor. The last case involved a geological research station using loud sounds for seismic studies. The bears in the first two cases killed people (and were ultimately killed and carcasses studied). In the case of the geologists, they had high powered rifles on station and killed the bear before it killed a human (it did attack and kill a dog).

There is also a concern that bears in the Arctic are getting high doses of PCVs being at the top of the food change and this could be altering behavior.

None of that necessarily applies to grizzlies and black bears, but it does raise questions.

Oh, in one case a guide used a .22 pistol to try to scare the bear off. It didn't work, nor did it work that he fired several shots at the bear.

Only pistol I'd trust would be a Casull.”

“In his 1985 book [u]Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance, [u]university of Calgary professor Stephen Herrero reviews bear attacks.

I bought this book at a local library for a buck. It saved my life on several occasions... prolly.

I sent it to Fridge so's he can study-up before his AK trip.”

“Only pistol I'd trust would be a Casull.”
Geobeet
11:11:32 AM


you'd probably only need one bullet though - and it ain't for the bear.”

“Dr. Herrero has forty years experience in bear attack research and says that bear spray is effective in 80 - 90 per cent of Bear/human encounters with the higher number for grizzlies.

uhhh... what happens in the other 10-20% of the cases? that is actually a little disturbing.”

“uhhh... what happens in the other 10-20% of the cases? that is actually a little disturbing.”
Yogisan
1:01:42 PM
6/02/08

The bear has pepper spray poop for a day or two in those other 10%-20% of the cases.

John”

“I'm thinking pepper spray poop is not a satisfying experience.”

“well, nothing is 100% effective.

:)

The most disturbing thing is actually the fine print on the side of the bear spray canister. It reads something like "This can contains enough content for a 10 to 15 second discharge. Effective range 30 feet"

that's not exact on the time, but I do recall it being frighteningly brief - then I marched off 30 feet and about #&%!$ my pants thinking about how fast a charging grizzly would close that gap and thinking there NO WAY a little dose of pepper spray could be effective.

This one grizzled looking guy at REI when I bought my spray prior to going to Glacier told me that it was more of a mental security blanket - meaning he didn't have much faith in it, but wouldn't go without it either.

Yall have fun!”

“This is why I (still) love TrailTalk.

Doug”

“that's what i figured. the 10-20% is when the griz gets his food spiced just the way it likes it.

i guess the other way to look at this is that the only thing that is 100% guaranteed and effective is death. everything else is just a crap shoot.”

“...or staying away from bears ;)”

“My thinking is to smear oneself with chemicals and hope the bear you run across is an organic food freak.”

“Threads like this always make me think of Simer and his polar bear.”

“Man attempts to pepper spray squirrel, manages to instead hit 5 humans.
Squirrel leaves peacefully
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/NEWS01/80602002”

“lmao!

crash banned needs to tell his bear spray story!

NOW CRASH!”

“arclite has a good bear spray story that's around here somewhere.

A friend is going camping at Yosemite this summer with her 2 sons. She's very nervous about bears. I made a comment that people are like Snikers bars to the bears. Soft and gooey on the outside and crunchy on the inside. I don't think that I helped ease her fears any.”

“just tell her it's not really the bears she's got to worry about at Yosemite, it's the mountain lions that'll sneak up on ya.”

“Be carefull about putting those pepper spray containers in your pant pocket.

A friend of mine had a very strong pepper spray "go off" while in his pocket.
Great Balls Of Fire.....for hours!”

“I thought this was interesting. The biologists are touting bear spray over firearms and say it's effective in 98% of the cases. However...

Spray residue has been found to attract brown bears rather than repel them. Someone who sprays a bear in a camping area could inadvertently turn the campground into a bear-baiting station.

Yikes! I found the comments from the Alaskans at the bottom equally as interesting. They sure love their guns!

http://www.adn.com/bearattacks/story/381252.html”

“10MM GAP”

“I am a bear spray user.
Are you?”

“If my luck will coninue to hold, no.”

“I carried it in Banff. Turned out to be dead weight, but I was glad we had it. I test fired it first. That stuff shoots a good distance.”

“Right on Man.....Now lets go to Alaska 2010 chili.”

“Yea roseymonster I remember my first time test firing...I was impressed with the distance, and wide angle coverage.”

“I would like to fridge but I don't see it in the cards anytime soon. NGB and I are hoping to make it to the Tetons next summer. Just depends on how the next 6 months go at work. I get the branch on track and I will be golden.”

“Man those Tetons are it man...That is another dream of mine. Good luck and take lots of pics man.”

“want to climb them...”

“Then GO”