Embedded Files
Animal Allies
Animal Allies
Problem: We needed to educate people about black bears. Leaving too much food and trash outside, and feeding bears leads to an unhealthy alliance between bears and humans. This heightened level of contact could eventually result in bears being extirpated again in Missouri.
Solution: The team decided to spread the word to people in campgrounds, around our community, and even on the internet about how to reduce bear contact. Educating people on using bear resistant containers, different bear tactics, keeping our distance, and not feeding them will lead to a happy and healthy relationship with our Animal Allies.
We made a poster about bears and human interaction. The problem was people didn't know how to handle bears, and they were treating them wrong. One big thing is that people were feeding bears. "A fed bear is a dead bear," says Ashley Schanake. She is a wildlife expert we interviewed. When bears get close to humans and we have to go trap the bear, if once trapped and it's too comfortable it means it's not afraid of humans. Sadly that could mean the possibility of a future attack because of close proximity to humans and would have to be put down. Bears do need to have a healthy fear of humans, if you feed it the bear will lose the fear of you. Please remember that a fed bear is a dead bear.
Close to the Branson, Missouri Airport there is a black bear, Black Bear 1001. He has been spotted five times and has been tagged. Black Bear 1001 is a male and he weighs 455 lbs. He has roamed about 765 miles. He is 16 years old and in great condition. To find out more about Black Bear 1001 and see if there is a bear in your area visit this site by the Missouri Department of Conservation: Black Bear GPS. Picture used by permission from Missouri Dept. of Conservation.
A bear safe container is a container that bears can't open. Bears don't have thumbs so containers that screw on/off are great. Keep food in bear safe containers and trash too! Don't leave pet food out, especially in the spring if you have bears in the area. Go to this site to purchase bear proof containers . OR check back soon for a video that we made of a DIY version of a bear safe container pictured on the left. Check out our DIY video HERE or just watch it below.
Here are ten things more likely to kill you than a bear. Some surprised us, they might surprise you too. This is from an article from a magazine put out by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
- Ladders. They are innocuous and inanimate, yet even a rickety step ladder is more dangerous than a jaw full of bear teeth. In 2012 alone, 870 people in Washington died from falling and on average, a quarter of all falls are attributed to ladders.
- Deer. While deer have been known to attack humans to protect their young, deer are not likely murderers. However, deer-car collisions lead to about 200 human deaths a year. For a deer, crossing the highway is risky, but sometimes necessary to reach new food sources or follow migration routes from summer to winter habitats. To learn more about safe wildlife crossings, see Conservation Northwest’s work with the I-90 wildlife crossings project.
- Bees. Though about the size a grizzly's claw tip, this insect is 12 times more likely to kill a human than a bear thousands of times its size. And bees are right in our backyards! Regardless of the invaluable role they play in pollination, bees can be deadly and five Washington residents died of stings in 2012.
- Dogs. Man’s best friend is more likely to attack you than a bear (or a wolf!). A very small fraction of dog attacks are fatal, however dogs still kill ten times more people each year in the U.S. than grizzly bears.
- Lightning. One in 3,000 people living in the U.S. will be struck by lightning during their lifetime. Washington is one of the tamest states in terms of thunder storms and still five people have been struck since 1959. That’s five more than the number of grizzly attacks in Washington state in the last 50 years.
- Cows. An average of 22 people are killed in the U.S. every year from these seemingly docile creatures. And there are a lot more cows roaming the woods of the Northwest than there are grizzly bears.
- The fair. It’s all fun and games until someone dies at the fair. The odds of dying at a carnival are 300,000,000 to 1, but that is still more likely than meeting your fate at the paws of a grizzly bear.
- Driving. One out of every 100 people will be killed in a car accident. On a national scale, cancer and heart disease are essentially the only things more deadly than getting behind the wheel of an automobile. In 2012 alone, 440 people were killed in traffic accidents in Washington state. Worldwide, more than 3,000 people are killed in traffic each day.
- A meteorite. Instead of being afraid of bears, perhaps we should all be wary of space. The odds of being killed by a plummeting space rock are hard to calculate, but some estimate that the chance of anyone, anywhere on earth being hit by a meteorite is roughly one in 3,000. Granted not all those people live in grizzly bear country, but that statistic should still have you keeping a wary eye on the sky.
- A lava lamp? Okay this one might be a stretch, but only one person in Washington state has been killed by a wild bear (and it was a black bear, not a grizzly)—in recorded history. That’s the same number of people who have been killed by lava lamps. Granted you are more likely to encounter a bear on a hike than decide to heat up a lava lamp on a camp stove, but by the numbers, a grizzly bear is about as likely to be lethal as a lava lamp is.
Click on the link below to take the quiz on the information that you learned. Watch the video in the link below first!
This is our Missouri Bears skit that we perform for the judges, you can also share this with other family members, friends, and anyone else. You don't have to, but we would love if you could get as many people as possible to view this video. If you like the video, hit the like button on youtube!
Report abuse