bears
So I'm volunteering as a camp host at a Forest Service campground this month, and we're having bear problems. The thing is, you only have bear problems if the bears lose their fear of humans and learn...
Forum Discussion
Thanks, @brirene.
We had a new low in human vs. bear this weekend. Family finished dinner and left the park, leaving ALL their food out. 3 coolers, boxes of this and that, EVERYTHING. They returned at 11 PM. Park gates are closed and locked at 10 PM, your guess as to how that worked. (And yes, the gate was found to be missing a lock the next morning.) They were on the site next to the host for that part of the park -- not me -- and he thought it odd they'd be able to return from wherever they went at 11. Sometime later, the bear came and sent them in a panicked flight home, abandoning EVERYTHING, tents, sleeping bags, camp stove.
6:30 am, I stroll past the site walking our dog. It looks like a dumpster exploded. Half eaten bags for hamburger buns, packages of all sorts of food, part of a chicken, strewn far and wide. Bear must have called in all his buds for a party.
They were scheduled to stay one more day, but it wasn't 'till about 2:30 PM they showed back up, and began packing up the remains. Our law enforcement officer came running when they arrived to give them a citation for feeding the bears (nominal value to you and me, $500).
Then she gave them another ticket for "cursing and abusing" (it is illegal to swear in public in Virginia -- don't do that to an officer of the law here, it carries a stiff fine in the event that you've made them mad at you to start with.)
Although they were already on their way out, having evidently used up their interest in camping in the wilderness, they were officially thrown out of the park with a "and don't ever come back" as well.
So I've not yet seen one of the horde of bears that seem to cruise the park daily, just the sad remains when one strikes, as sight I'd really like to see less of.
We had a new low in human vs. bear this weekend. Family finished dinner and left the park, leaving ALL their food out. 3 coolers, boxes of this and that, EVERYTHING. They returned at 11 PM. Park gates are closed and locked at 10 PM, your guess as to how that worked. (And yes, the gate was found to be missing a lock the next morning.) They were on the site next to the host for that part of the park -- not me -- and he thought it odd they'd be able to return from wherever they went at 11. Sometime later, the bear came and sent them in a panicked flight home, abandoning EVERYTHING, tents, sleeping bags, camp stove.
6:30 am, I stroll past the site walking our dog. It looks like a dumpster exploded. Half eaten bags for hamburger buns, packages of all sorts of food, part of a chicken, strewn far and wide. Bear must have called in all his buds for a party.
They were scheduled to stay one more day, but it wasn't 'till about 2:30 PM they showed back up, and began packing up the remains. Our law enforcement officer came running when they arrived to give them a citation for feeding the bears (nominal value to you and me, $500).
Then she gave them another ticket for "cursing and abusing" (it is illegal to swear in public in Virginia -- don't do that to an officer of the law here, it carries a stiff fine in the event that you've made them mad at you to start with.)
Although they were already on their way out, having evidently used up their interest in camping in the wilderness, they were officially thrown out of the park with a "and don't ever come back" as well.
So I've not yet seen one of the horde of bears that seem to cruise the park daily, just the sad remains when one strikes, as sight I'd really like to see less of.
