Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Slovenia has Most Brown Bears in Europe

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In recent years bears have been moving closer to villages and cities in search of food as the bear population has been rising.  Read more here.

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Comments

  1. Larry says

    Strange creatures, those bears! Here’s a story about one of them.

    In between semesters in college, I hitch-hiked down to visit my parents in Southern California. One of the drivers who gave me a lift was a conservative-looking middle-aged man. The highlight of our conversation was the amazing story about why he gave up grizzly bear hunting. I believe him. There was no alcohol odor in the car, and he had no obvious reason to be pulling my leg. I am simply repeating what I heard. Tall tale? You be the judge.

    Many years before, the man was hunting grizzly bears in Montana. While standing in a high place, he saw a grizzly bear, took aim, and fired his weapon. The recoil from the rifle caused him to lose his balance. He fell off the bluff, and broke his leg. A minute later, he heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw the wounded bear walking toward him. He thought: Oh my God, I’m toast!

    The bear either picked him up and carried him–or simply dragged him off–I forget which. When they got to the main road, the wounded bear keeled over, and died. A passing motorist stopped, and gave the wounded man a ride to the nearest hospital. Willy-nilly, the final act in the life of the bear was to save the life of the hunter who was the source of the mortal wound!

  2. Jennifer says

    Larry,
    Great story!
    You would like the book ‘When Elelphants Weep – The Emotional Lives of Animals’ by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy.

  3. Larry says

    Thanks, Jennifer. Oh no, I feel another bear story coming on!

    Even though it’s on our state flag, the grizzly bear has been locally extinct in California since 1920 or so. Apparently an individual grizzly bear needs a huge territory in order to survive. And our ecosystems–even in the Klamath Mountains up North–are far too fragmented. But Griz’s smaller cousin, the black bear, has done a better job of adapting to the presence of people. In some places–like Yosemite National Park–the adaptation has been too successful!

    I heard this story many years ago from an old gentleman who used to lead Sierra Club hikes. And he heard it from a young female acquaintance. It’s third hand; so take it for what it’s worth.

    The woman was hiking by herself in Yosemite, up to the top of a waterfall. Since she didn’t see anyone else on the trail; she thought that it would be OK to take a sunbath after lunch. She drifted off to asleep, and was rudely awakened by a warm, raspy tongue on her abdomen. Apparently the bear was after the coconut oil in her suntan lotion! But aside from the wear and tear on both nervous systems, no harm done.

  4. Louis Hissink says

    Larry and Jennifer,

    I recall watching a documentary some years back about a young French girl in SW Africa who could talk to the African Elephants, and who had no fear of those elephants either. Apparently young children have this ability until it is beaten out of them by ignorant parents.

    Would be nice to see that documentary again.

    Mind you I would reassess my opinions if confronted by a Mamba in Africa. Maybe the Bear story is a mammal thing.

  5. Larry says

    Louis wrote:
    “I recall watching a documentary some years back about a young French girl in SW Africa who could talk to the African Elephants, and who had no fear of those elephants either. Apparently young children have this ability until it is beaten out of them by ignorant parents.”

    My understanding is that many mammals can sense (smell?) fear, and that it is difficult for them to make the fine distinction between fear and aggression.

    I have good intuition about where large dogs are coming from. (I can’t say the same for yappy small dogs.) Big dogs that I meet for the first time know that I mean no harm. And I can sense the rare instances where large dogs are so intent on their territoriality that they’d actually bite me if I continued walking in their general direction.

  6. amicu says

    As a matter of fact Romania is the country witch has the largest population of brown bears in Europe. In our mountains live more then 6000 (yes, six thousand) brown bears. Five people were killed this year (2009) by bears, all foreign tourists. It seems they don’t understand that the bear is not a pet.