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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

YELLOW FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIDDDEEE

            Bears are commonly seen in the Adirondacks, as many of them call the park home. In fact, there are a number of stories about Hamilton Adirondack Adventure trips coming into contact with bears over the years, including two from this past fall! Bears in the Adirondacks, as well as other parks, love to eat food brought in by campers. This tendency has led to the creation of many bear canisters meant to keep bears from accessing human food. Because bears have such a strong sense of smell, the generally accepted practice among campers is to place all food and anything else that is scented into one of these canisters, and then place the canister a few hundred feet away from the campsite overnight. If a bear finds the canister, it will be unable to open it, therefore ensuring that the campers will have all their food come morning. At least that is the theory.
            There is one bear that destroyed this theory however, gaining fame and a reputation for herself. Her name was Yellow-Yellow. Yellow-Yellow lived in the Adirondacks and received her name due to the yellow tags that were placed on each of her ears. She gained notoriety and fame after opening a specific brand of bear canister called the BearVault and stealing some campers’ food. Up until she did this, no bear had ever opened a BearVault canister, and no bear has opened one since. Largely as a result of Yellow-Yellow, the Hamilton Adirondack Adventure program, as well as the Outing Club, uses a brand of bear canisters that is even more difficult to open than BearVault canisters.
            However these more complex canisters may no longer be necessary, as Yellow-Yellow was shot and killed by a hunter on October 21st, 2012. Though it was a legal kill, as it was during bear hunting season, Yellow-Yellow’s death was met by the sadness of many. Her uniqueness and intelligence was truly one-of-a-kind, as there are no other documented bears that have been able to open a BearVault canister. However, Yellow-Yellow may have performed one final trick in addition to her many acts of thievery, as she was only identifiable by her radio collar after being shot. It is unclear how she did it, but Yellow-Yellow was able to remove the yellow tags from both her ears at some point after they were placed there. Though it is possible that their removal was accidental, the idea that she found a way to remove them pervades, strengthening her legacy of intelligence and resourcefulness.

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