Nah that was so he could get a closer look at the bomb vest. From the image taken it was determined the vest was a fake bomb and action was taken accordingly. It’s a cool story.
I think the selfie guy’s own words were more like “yeah I wanted to see it was a dead man’s trigger but also this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” And I doubt he had the skills to identify if a bomb is real or not…otherwise he could have overpowered him right then and there.
Question to the bear experienced redditors: What is the best behaviour in this situation? Shout, wave arms, yell, make noise? Or stand still? I know if it's black, fight back, but here?
Honestly, either of them screaming loudly would have scared the fuck out of that bear and it (most likely) would have run away like a lil bitty bear bitch
Even just raising their arms, its probably on a common trail so they aren't too scared of humans, but any change in size would probably make them leave.
Lmao I always think of if I tried to pet, say, a cat I wouldn’t be scared. But if the cat walked on two legs when I tried to pet it I would probably freak the fuck out
This right here. Black bears are generally cowards. They will straight up abandon their cubs to get up a tree and away from whatever, trusting their cubs will also go up a tree on their own
Should you find yourself in the town of Churchill Manitoba, Polarbears cross through its neighborhoods along their migratory path twice each year. It’s not uncommon at any time of year to run into one when out for a stroll or running errands.
Because of this, the community here has an unwritten rule whereby nobody locks any vehicle at any time, even if unattended overnight.
So when in Churchill Manitoba or surrounding area, should you encounter a White Bear, find the closest vehicle and shelter inside of it.
Thanks for my interesting fact of the day. I had to go to Google Maps to verify but you’re right. Every road I found that looks like it goes out of town ends up at some location nearby and no further
Found this out when I told my friend I saw a brown bear on my way to work. He was extremely skeptical, and I couldn't understand why - bears are common in our area.
Turns out "brown bear" is another name for "grizzly bear," and black bears can be brown.
Running from a polar bear is only recommended because they're more likely to kill you instantly that way instead of eating you alive like they would if you'd played dead
obviously dont test this hypothesis but i heard that a good strategy from running from a polar bear is throwing objects to the side as apparently they have short attention spans
They can still run like 25mph though, so you gotta get on that snowmobile and get the fuck going.
Granted that only takes a few seconds on most snowmobiles, but it only takes a few seconds for a bear to chomp down on you so… you’re still testing the limits in a lot of ways.
Scream and shout would be before the bear is literally face-to-face with you—at that range any sudden movement/noise would likely have triggered a negative reaction from the bear.
In this situation anything sudden movement or shouts could trigger an aggressive response from the bear. But making yourself look big and talking somewhat loud and stern is still on the table, if they did that the bear probably would have backed off. I'm not really a bear expert but I have had my fair share of black bear encounters on trails.
Yeah letting it get that close in the first place is a mistake, usually they are very skittish and will run upon seeing a human noise or not. This is obviously a bear that has seen a lot of people though, so it would need some more encouragement to leave... But yeah, as you pointed out, once it is on top of you, freezing up might not be a bad idea, then, when you have a few feet of distance, try to scare it. I wouldn't want to get a paw to the face because I spooked it as it was feeling me up.
Most of the time they're skiddish of people but that's a tagged bear look at the ear. It's probably been moved from a different area where it was a nuisance so this one's not as scared of people as most. Best bet if yelling at it doesn't work as it's walking up is to leave a piece of clothing or backpack on the ground and back away slowly it will probably be interested in what you left while you leave.
Black Bears - Make your presence known before they get near you, they’re generally big babies who will run away. Mamas are aggressive if you get between them and their children. Making yourself big and loud like you’re ready to fight back is generally the best advice. Keep them at a distance if at all possible.
Brown /Grizzlies - Lay down and play dead. You’re honestly probably already dead anyway if they’re in the mood and know you’re there. Much more aggressive than black bears, and you won’t scare them off with a display of dominance, might even encourage them for a fight. Try not to get noticed.
Polar Bears - You’re soo dead. Apex arctic predator in the most hostile environment to humans on Earth. No chance.
This is incorrect for grizzlies in the US. You do NOT lie down, if a grizzly is aggressive you slowly back away, stay silent, dont make eyecontact and get your bearspray. If the grizzly is not aggressive, you look big, scream/shout, and do NOT back down. -former NPS worker who has been trained in bear safety.
this is the first comment I've found mentioning bear mace
I've worked in bear country (grizzly and black) and I don't think anyone I've worked with ever said play dead. Just looks to be an easy way to end up dead cause you can't really fight back if it turns out to be a hungry bear.
Being loud when we were in the bush and keeping bear mace on us at all times was what we did.
I’m not trained in any sort of official way, but I grew up in the back woods of Appalachia and my mom used to scare off the black bears that would steal from our cherry trees by running out on the porch and banging pots and pans together. Black bears are much more skittish than brown bears. If I was in a similar situation as these ladies and I had something that made loud noises, I would probably try that.
My friend’s dad once shot one that was in his back yard with a .30-06 and that seemed to work pretty well too 🤣
Honestly staying still was probably a better call. Black bears are skittish and you should be able to scare them away before they get this close fairly easily (excluding a momma bear and cubs), but you don't want to make them scared and defensive when you are in swiping range of the claws.
I don't understand how or why they let the bear get that close. You have at least four people on an open trail. Someone would have seen the thing. With black bears you shout and wave and it will run away, especially with that many people. I've never seen that fail unless there was a cub around, and this one isn't acting like there was a cub.
Tl;dr Make noise and make your presence known and it will run off long before you get that close. This screams 'lets be quiet and see how close it gets for the insta.'
Source: Lot of time in the Appalachian mountains. Dozens of black bear encounters. They never got that close.
Ideally you are loud and large before the bear is that close to you. I am assuming they saw the bear and decided to go silent. The bear being curious probably walked over because it recognizes humans.
This gave me flashbacks to the early internet when everyone was trying to figure out whether the guy behind the dolphinsex site was genuine or a troll.
I’m old enough to remember that. People talk about the old internet and are talking about FB when you needed a .edu, or MySpace. But dolphinsex.com is like AOL IM (A/S/L haha), or even pre-search engine.
If you run, it triggers their prey instinct and they chase you down and attack. They say even if you're charged by a grizzly bear, your best option is to stand your ground.
Some black bears are more on the brown side so you’ll need to know what you’re up against. Black bears have longer snouts and brown bears have shorter muzzles, larger bodies and a shoulder hump.
I mean if I am that close to a bear to assess the size of its snout I have a feeling it won't make much of a difference to me if he is a black or brown bear.
Juvenile black/brown bears look kind of cute and sweet. They aren't but they look that way. Juvy grizzlies don't look cute. They look dangerous. They are.
If you're hiking in an area where their might be grizzly bears you should be in a group of at least 3 (they are much less likely to attack larger groups) and you should have bear spray (pepper spray but much stronger). Slowly back away if you see a bear, and if it approaches you, spray it. Also it's recommended to talk among your group while hiking, so that the bears hear you coming and slink away.
I saw this last week with my cat. This arsehole down the road let his dog out and it just bolted over to my cat barking wildly. The cat didn't move, and didn't really look too bothered. The dog got within 2 foot and just froze barking away and not really sure what to do next. I really feel if my cat had of ran that dog would have got him.
Happened to me once when delivering. I was half way up the drive way when a dog came around the house and started barking and running at me. I froze for a quarter second mid step and just kept power walking. The dog ran into my leg and just sort of kept barking in lower volume but almost like it didn't know what to do cause I wasn't running. The homeowner came out, apologized and got the dog. The homeowner was also a bit surprised at my lack of reaction and the dogs reaction.
It seemed super interested in smelling her hair, id guess she uses one of those shampoos that smell yummy af. Bear didnt care about her, hes just trying to figure out where shes hiding that honey shea butter fruit smoothie or whatever fuckin flavor she buys.
Bear's got a tagged ear. Either it's known in the area and is being actively monitored, or is a nuisance bear that was relocated... and will fail as a relocation because it's clearly acclimatized to humans.
Totally seems like a National Park bear. In touristy places in the US, like Gatlinburg, the bears have absolutely no fear of people because people mean trash, and trash is free food. They’ve even learned to “perform” and “beg” for scraps.
Basically the same thing! But respect to the girl. I don't know if I could have stayed that still and calm in the same situation!
Edit: for all commenting fight back. Even a 40 lbs dog can fuck you up at that distance and with access to that much bare skin. She did good staying still. We didn't see how it came to this. For the situation shown in the video they all did exactly the right thing.
Notice the one other girl kept moving and fidgeting and actually stepping away? Yeah, MOST people couldn't do it! That girl was disciplined. Actually, 2 of 3 held still so that's pretty good.
I mean the advice to get rid of black bears is to yell at them. I guess they kept it calm. I simply saw a black bear the other day and I think it was the scariest day of his life how fast he ran away. I didn’t yell I just grabbed my phone to take a video lol. This one is obviously used to humans which I guess can be more dangerous if it’s not afraid.
Getting used to humans is what gets them killed. The reason most places have dont feed the wildlife signs isnt because they shouldnt be eating "human" food its because animals become way more dangerous when they see humans as a source of food.
Right?! The time to yell is before it's in swiping distance. If its muzzle is 2 inches from my face, I'm going to chill the fuck out when I'm done hyperventilating.
Edit: for all commenting fight back. Even a 40 lbs dog can fuck you up at that distance and with access to that much bare skin. She did good staying still. We didn't see how it came to this. For the situation shown in the video they all did exactly the right thing.
Even a 3kg (6pounds?) cat can shred you. We have very soft skin and anything with claws and sharp teeth can do a lot of damage. Cat bites for example can go deep enough to sever ligaments. And they get infected badly. Friend of mine was attacked by his own cat when she got unexpectedly spooked and in her panic she clawed his entire arm. He needed urgent emergency care because the arm was bleeding insanely. Also needed many stitches, overnight in hospital, antibiotics and tetanus shot.
Source:
Being mauled by this guy when it's bath time or dewormer pill time
Yeah...you are correct. My Mains Coon's bites at my forearm were deep and bad enough to give me blood poisoning and a two days hospital stay (I thought I disinfected it pretty well, but the asshole bit me deep enough to actually splitter the bone a little. I had to work for a couple of days after the bite too. So it had time to get into my bloodstream. He is 16 now and an old man, but he was an absolute menace to the society in his younger years)
We need to stop with this rhyme. It is wrong on so many levels.
If it's black... if it's brown...
Black bears can be just about any color ranging from black to a brown similar to grizzlies to blonde. You cannot determine the species of a bear based on its color.
If it's brown, lie down
Also terrible advice. If you are attacked by a grizzly bear, then playing dead (while protecting your neck and vital organs) is the best thing to do. But if you simply encounter a grizzly, then you should never lie down. You slowly and cautiously back away.
Looks like it. That probably means he’s already had a negative interaction with people.
In Algonquin Park I believe they’ll tag and relocate bears the first time it happens. The second time the bear gets another tag and relocated further away. Third time it gets euthanized, sadly.
This is a bear that’s been fed and is expecting humans to feed it. And the paw swipes it made are the exact reason why it’s going to get euthanized. Very sad :( a fed bear is a dead bear, as they say.
The bear is probably frustrated it’s not getting food and I’d guess the paw swipes are the bear’s way of trying to get attention or express a bit of annoyance. There’s a video where a guy has a bear in his yard and he makes the bear leave but the bear makes the same kind of swat.
It’s likely someone will get injured and it’s too bad that it will result in this bear getting killed. I hope it gets relocated instead but it’s already got one strike against it, I think.
Swiping with a paw is the bear equivalent to a dog using it's mouth/teeth to direct humans. While not necessarily intended to harm it absolutely can cause harm, fear, and escalating behaviors.
Edit, when I say dog and mouth think herding breeds. They direct sheep with mouthing and try with humans until taught otherwise. I do not mean biting for direction.
They're just awkward looking at that age, that bear is between 1-3. Not much mass, and all lanky. They start to fill out when they're around 5. Probably pushes 300lbs in late summer though.
Black bears (at least Florida Black Bears) usually don't want anything to do with people. They are easily scared off (by making loud noise and making yourself look bigger), and they can smell you before you'd ever know they're there. So they will likely avoid you unless something else is going on (like you left out barbecue food).
Also, they eat about 80% plants, 15% insects, and 5% meat (small animals or scavenging on already dead animals). Obviously, they could still really hurt someone, which is why you should know what to do if you encounter one.
It is also important to know their warning signs of aggression, like them thumping their paws on the ground.
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u/RicePuddingRecipes 2d ago
She took this selfie.