One of the joys of being a homeowner in a rural area is the slightly constant worry of bears getting into your yard. We secure our trash, try not to leave things out.
Stuff happens, though, and no matter how careful we are, sometimes we’re going to run into a bear. On Tuesday, October 24th, this happened to an unsuspecting man:
WGN News shared this hilarious clip, and I’m grateful for it. I’ve never seen a black bear, but I did have a run-in with a moose once…
Related: National Park Service Crowns Alaska’s ‘Fat Bear Week’ Winner
It’s more common than you’d think to see bears in your yard, and the situation is, for the most part, manageable. The chances that you’ll be injured decrease greatly if you know what you’re doing. If ever you run into a black bear specifically:
- Start talking to it in a calm voice while waving your arms.
- Stand still other than waving your arms.
- It might come closer to give you a sniff: just let it.
At that point, it will most likely decide you’re just a lousy human and ignore you. Even if it goes back to rummaging through your trash or tearing up your garden, you need to walk away. Very slowly (while still waving your arms and talking) back away from the bear. Stop when it looks back over, and resume when it looks away. Once you’re safely inside, you should call the wildlife patrol service in your area and report that there’s a bear nearby.
Lucky for the guy in the video, that was just a cub, and he spooked it by turning around and it ran off into the woods. He really couldn’t do anything else: he didn’t even know the bear was there. It could have ended badly: sometimes, a spooked black bear will charge. Since it’s a cub, it’s not far fetched to assume that mama was somewhere close by, too.
Short of putting up “bear proof” barbed wire fencing, taking good care of our trash, and setting out some natural repellants, there’s not much we can do to prevent bears wandering into our yards. We just have to hope they’re the picnic basket kind!
