“Why is Dad standing outside with the pole for the umbrella?”
“What?” I turned the water off and shook my hands dry. There were no paper towels in the campground washrooms. As I turned around, the door swung open and J walked in.
“You can’t be in here!” C was at first horrified, then indignant. “No boys allowed!”
His eyes were huge and had that energized, sugar-high gleam.
“Dad told me to – he said there’s a bear out there!”
Now my eyes were huge and C’s mouth dropped open – speechless, but only for a second.
“No way! You’re joking.”
The door swung open again and D scooted in. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen him ‘scoot’ before – or since.
“Yup, it’s a black bear,” he whispered, “with cubs.”
C managed a silent squeal and my heart rate spiked. We cracked the door and all peeked out. Nothing.
“How close were they?” I asked.
“The walked right past the camper and tried to cross the road, but some idiot with a camera blocked their way with his truck.” D shook his head in disbelief. “I yelled at him to move, but by then the mom had turned around and was heading back into the campground.”
“Right here! Right to the bathrooms.” J was vibrating with excitement.
Me, not so much. I was very happy to have cinderblock walls and a solid wood door between us and the bear family. I eyed the umbrella pole D was holding and raised my eyebrows.
He shrugged a little sheepishly. “I saw it as I ran out the camper,” he said. “I just didn’t want you walking out of the bathroom, right into the bears.”
We cracked the door and peered out again, just in time to see the back end of a momma black bear disappear around the corner, followed by two fuzzy black cubs. And, three seconds later, one smaller brown cub.
D closed the door and we all started whispering at once. The excitement was great, but I would have liked to have seen a little more fear.
“How long do we have to stay in here?” After five minutes, the adrenaline had worn off and J was bored.
After ten minutes, we were dangerously close to exhausting our repertoire of quiet games. (I challenge you to keep two little kids quiet for more than ten minutes in a campground bathroom) D poked his head out the door and did a quick survey. No bears in sight.
“We march straight back to the camper, okay team? Mom first and me last.”
The kids nodded, suddenly not so eager to leave our shelter. We’d only gone 15 feet down the trail when C stopped.
“No stopping,” J said. “March.”
“Look.” C pointed at the ground.
I crouched down for a closer look. The constant drizzle over the past three days had created soft mud on the trail, and there at her feet C had spotted a tiny paw print, smaller than her hand.
Welcome and blessing from the Stoney First Nations.
Good thing bears can’t read.
In years of camping and hiking, that’s the closest we have ever come to a bear encounter – and I’m happy for that. Today is Bear Day, a day focused on bear awareness and education. At the Canmore Nordic Centre, conservation officers, wildlife researchers and human-wildlife conflict specialists talked about safety in bear country and demonstrated bear spray.
The bear trap demonstration drew a crowd as bear 153 (Steve) was caught, sedated, tagged, collared, weighed, and eventually released.
Here are a few fast facts:
- Traps are equipped with transmitters that send conservation officers a text when they have been sprung. Some even have video monitors.
- Never assume the bear in the trap is the only one around – the rest of the family may be nearby (perhaps a cub, or perhaps a distraught momma bear).
- Conservation officers keep the core punched from the bear’s ear when they tag it in order to do DNA testing.
- Male bears are always tagged in the left ear and females are always right. (snicker)
- If a problem bear won’t take the bait and enter the trap, a conservation officer will climb inside the trap, leave the bait outside, close the door, and shoot the bear with the sedative when he arrives.
- A safety mechanism on the door will prevent it from closing if anything is in the way, like a back leg or cub.
Check out wildsmart.ca for some great photos of a real bear capture and relocation.
