One of the wonderful benefits of working in the wilderness is the potential for interaction with wildlife. Sometimes, we’re entertained by energetic jackrabbits. Sometimes, camels eat our lunch. Always, we keep safety at the forefront.
The British Columbia team was fortunate to see majestic bald eagles, curious stone sheep, and many (many) marmots in their natural habitat. We also saw several bears.
Most of the bears that we saw were black bears eating the fresh grass alongside the road.
However, the very first night in the field, we saw grizzlies.
The yellow arrow is pointing to a momma grizzly and her cub. Our anxious group is standing on the edge of our campsite.
We were well prepared for a moment like this. Before going to the field, we had several long discussions about bear safety. We knew that the best strategy is to avoid a confrontation. At all times, each of us carried our own bear spray, a pepper spray with a strong propellant. We also had bear bangers, fire-cracker cartridges that are launched with a pen-like launcher. One of the first things we did when we arrived in the field was practice using the bear spray and bear bangers.
The bangers worked just as they were designed when we used them that first night. We spotted the momma grizzly and her cub walking across the ridge toward our camp. They didn’t change their course after the first bear banger, so we set off another. The second banger caused them to stop, and the third startled them into running in the opposite direction. Confrontation avoided!
As an added precaution, we set up a portable electric bear fence around our tents. The gentle tick of the fence was a comfort at night.
I’ll take camels over grizzlies any day!
You can take my kid into bear country any time.