A Rant … Feel Free to Skip; but I Hope You Won’t

I started out to write about what we did today.

Then I decided to get my not-so-short rant out of the way first.  It has to do with one of the seven black bear encounters we had today — specifically, the one we saw not long after we entered the park.

The picture to the right is the bear in question.  By the time Mui snapped the picture from inside the car, the bear was a mere black dot; I cropped it heavily so you can see that it was indeed a bear.

The sign that Mui’s posing with was at the head of the trail we hiked later in the day.  It warns against one reason why a bear may have to be euthanized as a result of our actions.  You can read the story for yourself in the picture below.  The gist — drawn to food trash left behind by visitors, the bear became habituated and lost its fear of humans.  When it bit a visitor, it had to be killed.

That’s not the only way we might cause a bear’s untimely demise.

You all know that we’re all about wildlife encounters.  For us, an important aspect of such encounters is treating animals with respect and enjoying them while they do what comes naturally.  We do our utmost so as not to cause them undue stress.  Well, the ‘roadside bear jam’ that unfolded before us this morning sure didn’t fit that bill.

First, the vehicles had not pulled off to the side of the road.  They created a traffic hazard for fellow-visitors, and a barrier between the bear and the field it was trying to get to.  Second, one woman — I can only describe her as an I.J.I.O.T — was literally stalking the bear with her camera in hand.  The poor animal was visibly stressed, walking back and forth behind the trees, trying to find a way to cross the road.  Eventually, it managed to do so, galloping at full speed far into the open field, looking back periodically as though to ensure no one was following.

Had we seen any rangers, I would have reported the woman to be sure, but we didn’t see a single one all day and by the time we got to the visitor info station at the head of the loop, no one was on duty.  I had to be satisfied with sending daggers her way when she passed by us to walk to her car.  I couldn’t stop myself from telling her that what she did was “downright stupid,” but I don’t think my words registered.

I realize that the woman was probably just excited to see the bear.  Maybe it was her first bear encounter.  I’ve been there myself, and certainly remember how excited I was when I saw my first bear in the wild.  But her inconsiderate actions not only ruined the sighting for others, but endangered the bear as well.  For had it attacked the woman, the rangers would have had no choice but to euthanize it.

Bears — indeed wildlife in general — did not invite us into their homes.  We invited ourselves.  As such, it is incumbent on us to treat them with respect, and not cause undue harm.

I was also going to do a rant about people hiking trails strewn with rocks, and boulders, and tree roots wearing flip flops, but I think I’ll leave that to another time.