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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

The Bare Essentials about Adirondack Bears


There is a certain fear that people attach to animals such as bears, wolves, and lions. If you have spent anytime in a wilderness area you have likely come into some sort of contact with a bear. For me, it was a bear standing inches from my car at the dump. For my father it is the bear tracks he has noticed countless times in the woods by our camp.  For others it may be the simple fact that they have to lock their food in containers at night when they go camping to prevent bears from stealing it. Regardless, the presence of bears is almost there in the wilderness with us- physically and psychologically- especially in the Adirondacks, but this fear may not be completely valid.

 Most bear incidents occur in the high peaks region, where they took food from campers and caused them to abort their trips. A series of bear anecdotes from 2000 all report the failure of hanging their food from trees. One story explained that a “bear broke a bag pulley system and ate four days of food at one sitting. Needless to say our trip was cut short…” (Jenkins, 64). Bear-proof food storage containers (such as that shown below) are a solution, but they can cause bears to become more daring about meal time raids. The bears, however, are not causing physical injury to these campers, they’re just taking their food.

Year after year more people in the Adirondacks are injured by animals other than bears. Although bears and animals that are perceived as scarier can do great harm, the smaller animals have taken a greater toll on humans in the Adirondacks. In 2000, for example, there were six reported bear incidents, and 2,700 people in the park treated for injuries from other animals (Jenkins, 65). Some of these injuries were caused by wild animals such as raccoons and skunks, but the majority were caused by household pets, including cats and dogs. So for now, maybe the general public should be less worried about the animals lurking in the woods, especially bears, and more worried about the pets inside of their homes.



Jenkins, Jerry and Andy Keal. The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park Bronx: Syracuse University Press and the Adirondack Museum, 2004. 146-152.
Print.

2 comments:

  1. My home is right outside of the Berkshires and I go to the Adirondacks at least once a year. I've encountered bears many times and they've never been violent or causing any harm besides knocking a trashcan over. Yet, I am so scared of bears. I've watched many bears from windows or even outside but from afar and it's because of their size, claws and teeth that I can't help but have occasional nightmares about them. But I do love this post because I know my fear is slightly irrational!

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  2. I have seen many bears and have never had a problem with being attacked by them. Bears are seen as being very scary creatures when in reality they are just fighting for what they need to survive, like food. I think that the media plays a role in the perception of bears. By advertising bear attacks that are actually rare and usually the fault of the human, they paint bears in bad light. Therefore, I think it is good to educate individuals about the reality of bears like you did in your post.

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