During one of his guest appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, well-known animal expert and zookeeper Jack Hanna demonstrated how to use bear spray. This was a follow-up to his use of bear repellent in July 2010 while he and his wife were hiking along the trails of Montana’s Glacier National Park. According to the report posted by Xorje Olivares on abcnews.go.com (Zookeeper Jack Hanna Uses Pepper Spray to Save Hikers From Bear), as Jack and his wife, Suzi, and two other groups of hikers, approached a corner on the trail in a section of the park called Grinnell Glacier, they encountered a mother grizzly and her offspring just 30 feet away.
According to Hanna, there were two yearlings, not cubs, with their mother, which weigh between 100 and 150 pounds. “You cannot run from these animals. They run a football field in six seconds” (www.abcnews.go.com). Although the mother grizzly and one of the yearling bears simply passed by the hikers, the third bear was not so indifferent. As Jack Hanna described the encounter to Letterman and his audience, this bear exhibited signs of aggression and Hanna was forced to spray the bear right in the face with his bear spray. The wind blew the spray away after the first blast, and the bear kept coming, so Hanna, only about 10 feet from the bear at this point, unloaded the whole can in the bear’s face. This gave Jack, his wife, and the other hikers the opportunity to get safely away from the bears.
Ironically, only two weeks before this encounter, Hanna had recorded a public service announcement for the National Park Service about how to safely deal with bears. Jack Hanna’s first recommendation is for hikers, campers, and park visitors to carry bear pepper spray. Bear spray is specially formulated pepper spray, made to repel these large mammals. It comes in a larger can (more spray!) and is designed to be used from longer distances than the typical pepper spray formulated for use against humans. In other words, the protection benefits of bear spray differ from the benefits of other animal and human repellent sprays.
Hanna also advised people to use bear spray only when bears are exhibiting aggressive behavior. If you spray a bear that is not acting aggressively, you may very well provoke the bear. In addition, do not spray the bear repellent around your campsite or on your clothing or exposed skin. It does not work like insect repellent! Keep in mind other factors such as wind and the distance between you and the bear.
Other bear safety advice offered by Jack Hanna and the National Park Service from the report on www.abcnews.go.com: “If the pepper spray doesn’t work, Hanna said, hunker down and brace yourself. It is advice that has been successfully used on the same trail before. Also, the National Park Service suggests that people get in either a fetal position or turn sideways to assume a non-threatening stance.”
“‘What you don’t want to do is run,’ Hanna said. ‘You put your arms in front of your face and protect your face. They’ll bat you around and bite you, and then they’re going to leave you alone. They’re telling you to stay away. They’re not trying to eat you.’ Grizzlies spend their days eating berries, grass, moles and bugs instead, he said. But the one thing visitors ultimately can do to assure their safety is to visit outdoor locations early in the day. Hanna admitted that he and his wife made the mistake of heading out too late.” Zookeeper Jack Hanna Uses Pepper Spray to Save Hikers From Bear
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Finally, it’s a good idea to have more than one canister of bear spray in case you panic and drain your first can dry, or if you encounter more than one bear during your hike, picnic or camping trip. Chances are good that you’ll never have to use even one can. But wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry? For more information, and to purchase a supply of the most effective bear spray on the market, click HERE. And don’t forget to purchase a nylon holster for your bear repellent so that it is always handy.
