My last post detailed Deb’s and Diane’s encounter with a adolescent grizzly bear during an evening walk. Next morning, we spotted the same fellow down on the beach. Guess he must be part of the Official Lagoon Cove Welcoming Committee.
We watched him for about half an hour as he flopped rocks on the beach. He was totally unconcerned about our presence. In point of fact, we were making a lot of noise and he seemed oblivious to it.
He then proceeded up into a berry patch and we could hear him ripping the plants apart to get at the berries. After which, he appeared at the top of the ramp to our boat (see the first picture).
He then proceeded to walk down the path toward the marina (the same path that we walk) where Bob was waiting with the chain saw to scare him off again.
While this was all very entertaining to watch, there is a significant problem with all this. This bear is entirely too comfortable being around humans and occupying the same spaces as us.
Case in point. I was just about to walk over to the marina to check out. If no one had seen the bear, I would have been returning back down the path just about the same time that the bear would have been coming the other way. Encounters like that have the potential to end badly – especially if you surprise the bear.
Not sure what the solution is but the chainsaw doesn’t appear to be a strong enough deterrent. Craig at Nimmo tells us that they need a dog – a big dog – as bears do not like dogs and avoid them and the areas they occupy. We also have heard stories about bears like this that are trapped and then relocated – only to see them swimming back to the spot where they were trapped.
At any rate, something will need to be done if the bear doesn’t move on.