Re: 4 days solo hike that includes Half Dome and Clouds Rest
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 5:20 amBut nobody was hurt, and I think that's the key point. She just had an opportunity to grab some food because of human error, and she took advantage of it.
The whole grab n' dash tactic is something that the bears along Sunrise-LYV are notorious for, so it sounds like she probably moved up from there. With lots of bears and lots of competition for limited resources because of the drought conditions, she was likely pushed out. She's also at the point where she needs to load up on calories quickly with winter and hibernation coming. More than likely, she knows that really well, so besides being given the chance to obtain easy food, she's becoming a little more brazen out of desperation. So does she risk starvation and death, or maybe even not being able to bring a cub to term and suckle it, or does she get resourceful? What would any of us do facing the same choices? Bears are intelligent, but they're primarily driven by instinct and their will to survive.
Animals like this are learning by rote and becoming conditioned, because of no other reason than we're teaching it that way. It'll end worse for the bear than it ever will for a few people being frightened and having their trail mix inconveniently nabbed.
The whole grab n' dash tactic is something that the bears along Sunrise-LYV are notorious for, so it sounds like she probably moved up from there. With lots of bears and lots of competition for limited resources because of the drought conditions, she was likely pushed out. She's also at the point where she needs to load up on calories quickly with winter and hibernation coming. More than likely, she knows that really well, so besides being given the chance to obtain easy food, she's becoming a little more brazen out of desperation. So does she risk starvation and death, or maybe even not being able to bring a cub to term and suckle it, or does she get resourceful? What would any of us do facing the same choices? Bears are intelligent, but they're primarily driven by instinct and their will to survive.
Animals like this are learning by rote and becoming conditioned, because of no other reason than we're teaching it that way. It'll end worse for the bear than it ever will for a few people being frightened and having their trail mix inconveniently nabbed.