[CH] Fwd News Article: Pepper Spray May Attract Bears
PegVA@aol.com
Fri, 13 Feb 1998 22:36:41 EST
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--part0_887427402_boundary
Content-ID: <0_887427402@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Hey, Should we invite the bears to join the Chileheads?
peg e
--part0_887427402_boundary
Content-ID: <0_887427402@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2>
Content-type: message/rfc822
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Content-disposition: inline
From: AOLNews@aol.com
Return-path: <AOLNews@aol.com>
Subject: Pepper Spray May Attract Bears
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 05:17:45 EST
Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Pepper Spray May Attract Bears
.c The Associated Press
By JIM CLARKE
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - It's not what backpackers and hikers want to hear -
the pepper spray they count on to scare off bears may actually attract the big
beasts, like catnip does cats.
The evidence, so far, is just anecdotal. But the stories are worrisome - bears
chewing up plane pontoons doused with the spray and crowding into recently
sprayed camp sites, U.S. Geological Survey researcher Tom Smith said.
Smith discovered the attraction in November when he saw a bear rolling on a
rope sprayed just a week earlier with powerful red pepper extract. He was
recording brown bear activity near salmon streams in the Katmai National Park
and Preserve, 240 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Intrigued, Smith jumped from his observation post and sprayed the beach with
repellent. Several bears approached the beach 40 times to paw and roll in the
spray.
``It's a 500-pound cat with a ball of catnip,'' Smith said.
For those who spend a lot of time in bear country - and that's anyone hiking
in Alaska's backcountry - this isn't good news. Pepper spray is considered by
many to be a good alternative to carrying a powerful shotgun. Tests have shown
that it will stop a charging bear if sprayed in the bear's eyes, nose and
mouth.
Nothing Smith found disputes those tests. But preventive uses of the spray -
even spray residue on the can itself - can lure the huge, deceptively quick
and potentially dangerous bears. On Sunday, an oil worker was killed by a
brown bear that emerged from its winter den near the Kenai Peninsula.
Counterassault of Bigfork, Mont., which first marketed the spray, isn't
worried by Smith's findings, said general manager Pride Johnson, though some
people mistakenly treat it like mosquito spray.
``We've had some parents spray it on their children because it says bear
repellent,'' Johnson said Wednesday. The company has begun changing the
wording on its packaging to bear deterrent instead of repellent.
Smith's preliminary results should be noted by hikers and others, said Stephen
Herrero, a bear expert at the University of Calgary and author of a book on
bear attacks.
``They are going to have to think twice about how they store it, especially at
night,'' Herrero said. ``The big question of course is, `Do you sleep with it
under your pillow?'''
Smith suggested treating a used can like food, putting it in a bear-proof
container, and keeping an unused can in the tent while camping. Smith said he
plans more testing next summer - and he'll continue carrying the spray
meanwhile.
But the evidence so far has him confident he's on the right track. He has
submitted what he found for publication in the Wildlife Society Bulletin.
In the fall, he watched a float plane pilot spray his pontoons in an effort to
keep bears away. The next morning, the floats were chewed up.
And a camper at Katmai told Smith he had sprayed a circle around his tent to
keep brown bears away. ``It was a fetching salt lick,'' the camper told Smith.
``There were bears everywhere.
``Little did we know this stuff was like mayonnaise on baloney,'' Smith said.
AP-NY-02-12-98 0514EST
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
To edit your profile, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:NewsProfiles">
NewsProfiles</A>.
For all of today's news, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:News">News</A>.
--part0_887427402_boundary--