Staying safe during a bear encounter

AccuWeather

Bear specialist Rich Beausoleil shares some important safety tips that can help protect you from bear encounters.

Transcript

00:00this is this is gonna be a good one yeah warmer weather means more people are outdoors and more

00:06bear activity yeah too from backyards to the backcountry trails bear encounters are on the rise

00:13today we're joined by rich beausoleil from bear wise in the washington state department of fish

00:18and wildlife with tips to help you stay safe why are bear encounters becoming more common and what's

00:26behind the trend well good morning ariel and bernie first i think it's very important to mention

00:34that female bears don't reproduce until they're about four years old or older and then after that

00:41age it's every two to three years between their litters so that makes them one of the slowest

00:46reproducing mammals in north america so they don't tend to increase in population size quickly so in

00:53most areas it isn't that generally speaking where there are more people there right there is more

01:00potential for more human bear conflicts we have more people using wild areas more people moving

01:07into bear country more people feeding birds and not using bear resistant containers for their trash

01:13so there's a lot of attractants out there but here's the good news almost all interactions with

01:19bears can be prevented if people follow some simple guidelines we provide at bearwise.org

01:26and all the advice is really straightforward easy to understand and most importantly

01:32fun so i encourage your listeners to check it out well i'll tell you what let's say a bear shows

01:37up on your property what should you do and more importantly what shouldn't you do that's a good

01:44question um first if you see a bear on your property the first thing you want to do is scare it away

01:50immediately but safely grab a couple pots and pans and at a safe distance make a bunch of noise scare

01:57the bear away bang those pans blow a whistle yell at the animal those kinds of things are highly effective

02:04at scaring bears then once some time has passed you want to find out why the bear was there there's almost

02:12always an attractant on your property or on a neighbor's property the big five attractants you

02:18were talking about the big three earlier the big five attractants around people's homes are garbage

02:25bird feeders both seed and liquid leftover fruit from fruit trees animal feed and barbecue slash compost piles

02:34are kind of a tie um that's why the bear is there what you should not do is nothing you don't

02:42want to you want to do everything you can to avoid a repeat performance i love seeing bears too but

02:49it's not cool to have a bear on your property it's not a photo opportunity for social media

02:54um also don't let your dogs out because um you know they can get into a serious interaction with the

03:01bear so again super great tips on bearwise.org world-class resource and everything is free all right i

03:08got to share with our facebook group bernie and i live in the same neighborhood and we have a bear

03:12every year never seen what i just heard you say it's not cool no so we got to figure out our bear

03:17problem all right what should you do if you're camping or hiking and you encounter a bear if you're

03:23bear if you're in cow okay that's a good question first i want to say bears do everything they can to

03:29avoid seeing you and for you to avoid seeing them so they're not out there waiting for you so please

03:35don't let that stop you from enjoying our outdoor spaces remember the most single important rule

03:41your number one task when you're in the outdoors with all large mammals is to avoid surprising them

03:48so make noise when you travel when you hike hiking with others is great because you tend to have

03:53conversations by default that's what you want to do if you're alone or it's not very it's not very

03:59quiet because a stream nearby is flowing or the wind is blowing kind of hard they might have a hard

04:05time hearing you so it's a good idea to carry a whistle blow it every now and then this lets the

04:12critters know you're coming it's a two dollar prevention device that gives you a lot a lot of

04:17value another rule you want to never run if you have an encounter another one stay on the trails that's

04:25really important bears use trails just like we do but they expect to see you there during the day they

04:31know how to avoid you so stay on the trails make noise you're gonna have a great day in the woods also

04:38real quickly people like to hike with their dogs i do too together you're very scary to a bear that's

04:45good news however please keep your dogs on leash because an off leash dog smells something they go check

04:52it out and it's a bear guess who they're coming back to so again just super simple keep your dog

04:58on a leash you're way way way in the clear bearwise.org has a lot of information again on that all right

05:05do we want to ask about the bear spray i think we do let's oh let's talk about real quick maybe in 30

05:10seconds if you want to talk about the bear spray yes bear spray is a great product very very effective

05:17very forgiving the way it's designed 99 of the time you won't need it but if you when you do

05:23you want to have it when you purchase bear spray always make sure you also purchase the holder they

05:30have waist straps bandoliers um storage on your bike lots of different ways to store it if it's in your

05:38pack it's no good so you have to have it on you and just lastly and quickly don't use it like bug spray

05:46it's not meant to be used as a deterrent it's meant to be or it or a preventative deterrent it's

05:52a deterrent on the spot so you can't spray your tent and have it deter bears real simple just a great

05:59product i'm speechless bear specialist is an understatement for all the knowledge you have

06:05amazing hopefully you helped keep people some safer as we go into camping season here even on

06:10properties rich beausole from bear wise and the uh washington fish and wildlife we appreciate you

06:18being with us so much and all the knowledge that you brought thanks a bunch bernie and ariel i hope

06:23everyone out there at the accuweather studio in the accuweather listeners have a great memorial

06:28day weekend thank you thank you so much we appreciate it

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