permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

I'm surprised that Sal's game dept. won't relocate the bear; in Oregon, a
bear cage is just a phone call away (though there is suspicion that they
don't relocate them as they claim, they may just shoot them later; and
relocation is probably a death sentence anyway due to competition for
habitat). As Vint said (Hi Vint; good to see you're here), bear and
mountain lion are two different things. Scary as they are to meet, mountain
lions are almost never a threat to people. Jack Turner, in his book "The
Abstract Wild," points out that in the last 100 years, there have been 54
attacks by mountain lion, and 10 deaths (6 were small kids). So driving
your car is about 3000 times more dangerous. The one lion I saw really
didn't want to stick around me. So I'd tell your friend just be cautious,
maybe extra careful at night during her period (flashlight, bang pots,
singing, that sort of thing).

Bears are tougher. Friends in the Sierras had their (flimsy) front door AND
their refrigerator door removed repeatedly by a bear, which then crapped
all over the cabin. We've had them in our yard and one carried a plasic
garbage can about 100 feet and shredded it (the claw and tooth punctures
were awesome to see), but again, they're usually shy unless habituated to
humans or aware of a food source. They hate dogs, have on rare occasions
killed them but usually stay away from them, especially big loud ones.
Letting the bear know there is an aggressive, loud, scary human at the
sight will almost always persuade them that there are better places to go,
so you can make noise and yell at the bear from a safe place whenver it
comes by (disclaimer: these practices are not what a game dept would
recommend. They'd say, get a gun). It's critical to lock up food and
garbage. Get a stronger front door, too. They hit weak points; a heavy wood
door will send them looking for an easier source.

Re talking to the bear: The only time I've had luck talking to a marauding
animal is when I've offered it something equally good in return. Just
asking it to go away has never worked; they, quite reasonably, seem to want
something in return for leaving their home territory and good food. Work
out a deal.

Toby