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.
Sources
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