Posted on 09/12/2015 12:08:39 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
LITTLETON, Colo. - Denver Water says Waterton Canyon is still closed because of bear activity.
The popular trail was closed Aug. 28 because two momma bears, each with twin cubs, and other bears were actively foraging in the canyon.
Denver Water said part of the problem is not the bears, but people trying to get the perfect picture of them.
"We’ve actually seen people using selfie sticks to try and get as close to the bears as possible, sometimes within 10 feet of wild bears," said Brandon Ransom, Denver Water’s manager of recreation. "The current situation is not conducive for the safety of our visitors or the well-being of the wildlife.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said this time of year bears are actively seeking food to prepare for hibernation.
"It is a poor choice from our perspective, A) to get that close to wildlife and B) to turn your back, particularly on bears," said Matt Robbins, a spokesman for CPW.
The hashtag #bearselfie has become increasingly popular, though, and may be part of a broader trend -- people risking their lives to get the perfect self-photo.
In February, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ruled that a pilot in Colorado was taking a selfie when he crashed his plane, killing himself and a passenger.
In Russia this year, dozens have died while taking extreme selfies, prompting a national "Safe Selfie" campaign.
"There needs to be some move to teach us how to use these new technologies in safe ways," said Samuel Jay, an associate professor of communications at Metropolitan State University.
Jay has researched the emotional relationship people have with technology and how it affects their judgment.
"We get lost in this relationship and we’re not able to kind of calculate the danger that is present in these situations," he said.
For now, the closed canyon in Colorado serves as a reminder that the wildlife are not pets, and people should beware of turning their backs on the wrong bear.
"It's when we put them at risk and put ourselves at risk that somebody has to intervene and that’s what we’ve done in this particular case," said Robbins.
Waterton Canyon is a popular trail for hikers, bikers, runners, walkers, picnickers and people wanting to fish or watch the wildlife and birds. More than 100,000 people visit Waterton Canyon each year.
Waterton Canyon is also the starting point for many hikers tackling the Colorado Trail.
It was also closed for part of May and June due to high water and maintenance work.
Recently, here in Connecticut, we had a similar incident. A stupid, stupid, woman hiker made a video of two cubs she encountered on a trail. She said to the authorities that one of the cubs *bit* her ankle. Turns out, the cub sniffed her ankle. Park was closed. The bears were shot by the DEEP, in the days that followed. Suddenly in news accounts, the *cubs* became *bears*.
http://foxct.com/2015/09/02/sessions-woods-bear-euthanized/
"If you think getting close to the bears is a good idea, you go right ahread"
I think we'd all be better off.
Quite a few of ‘em up here this year on the move. More than usual. Even tho I am well armed when outside, it still startles the crap out of me to hear or sense one, turn around and there it is sizing my old bones up! Screw the pictures.....I’m outta there, back in ‘da shack!
Open the trails. Thin the herd!
Me too. These are progressive morons. And bears need to put on some fat. So what's the down side here?
Hey
Hope you’re good.
Speaking of hungry bears. When my eldest son was in high school he was into mountain biking with a pack of 8 boys, big time. They were heading to New Hampshire for a ride when there as a drought and the bears were restless.
So picture this. He’s in the kitchen with eight boys and I tell them to stand their bikes in front of them if confronted by a bear. If he attacks, hold the bike over your body. They looked at me like I was from Mars. “Sure, crazy mom.” They laughed at me. Any mother of boys knows this is routine.
Well, it happened and saved the life of a boy - a great friend of the family. He calls us from New England often just to chat ten years later. Whenever he’s near Texas for a business trip, he ends up being with us for a few days.
That day of the mountain bike ride, he said to me that all he could think of was what I told him to do if a bear attacked him. The bear knocked him down and bit the spokes of his wheel and tire that he positioned over his his shoulders, neck and face when it charged. The other boys beat the you know what out of the bear with their tire pumps, screaming like banshees and the bear took off.
That was a really good idea.
I agree. If ever there was a self-correcting problem, this is certainly one.
I did not have any reasonable excuse to know what I said to the boys about bear attacks. The idea came from the Holy Spirit. I pray a lot. : )
God works in mysterious ways and human males will always be males. Bless their hearts.
OMG. If anybody needed to get euthanized, it should’ve been her.
It would have been no loss if the bears ate her!
Let's break now for these words from Mutual of Omaha.
Those were classic commercials.
Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!
Yep. I’ve seen 40 year olds with kids doing nutty stuff. There’s a place out in the central Utah where I like to hunt for topaz and other minerals with my 8 year old daughter. It’s total desert, Wily Coyote country.
It’s actually more dangerous in the early spring and later fall because people don’t think about drinking water when it’s 65 degrees. The area is super dry (humidity is always less than 10%) and just sucks the moisture right out of your body with every breath. By the time your mouth gets thirsty, you’re already a quart low. I’m always sipping off a water bottle and have my daughter conditioned to do the same.
People think I’m paranoid because I go out there with tons more water than I need. It’s 99 cents for a gallon jug at the store, why not take 6 gallons with me? I usually take a lot more food with me than I need and bring most of it back home with me. Thing is, out there you’re 40 miles out of any cell phone coverage and the nearest town is 50 miles, so rescue is not just a phone call away. (Actually, it’s good practice to prepare as if your cell WILL be dead.) GPS on your cell phone doesn’t work out there, that’s why I have a Garmin that gets a signal from satellite. The place is a spiderweb of dirt roads, so I also have waypoints and routes set. My big fear out there is hitting a rock or something that takes out my radiator or oil pan, or something else that makes my car immobile.
I’ve helped a few people in trouble out there. One lady was out there with her 3 kids with no food, no water, and her car overheated. I filled her radiator, gave her a gallon of water for drinking & some jerky, and followed her to the first gas station to make sure she’d be OK (it was late afternoon and I was ready to leave anyway). She wanted to give me money and I just told her, “Nah, just help out the next guy.”
I also helped a guy whose car battery was on the blink. I checked the water levels in his battery and it was down to about nothing (which is usually the problem when you start having intermittent car battery problems). Putting water in his battery and a jump start got him going again.
That’s one tip I’m going to remember.
A coworker and I were working for a boiler company as field service engineers. On one job, I decided to take us across about 50 miles of dirt road in the high plateau / desert of eastern Oregon. About halfway in, a rock punctured the gas tank on my friend’s company car, enough so his fuel level was dropping too quickly. Not long before that, I’d read that regular bar soap could be used to seal small punctures. We tried it and, sure enough, it stopped the leak. I don’t think he ever repaired the tank before turning the car in for a new one a couple years later.
I was always amazed how a little survival knowledge, preparation, and forethought could save your hide in many ways.
Out in country like that, I always had a sleeping bag, food rations, lots of water, a camp stove, a shovel, flares, and other useful survival gear. Like you, it came in handy at times.
Good for you passing your knowledge on to your young daughter. My kids always laughed at my preparations and “what ifs,” but I hope some of it rubbed off on them.
Ah yes, I took a vacation out to the Oregon coast this summer. People think of Oregon as lots of rain, big pine trees, cool temperatures, and all that. The whole state is NOT like Seattle or Portland. Taking the interstate from Boise to Portland, I really noticed the difference between eastern Oregon and closer to the coast.
This summer, Boise was seeing temperatures that were Las Vegas-like. Over 100 and I saw as high as 108, that could really get you in trouble if your car breaks down and you’re 40 miles from anything.
Being from northern Wyoming, I learned to put provisions in the car when going somewhere. A good number of people had to survive in a car (or not) that crashed over an embankment and wasn’t found for a few days. Having provisions with you can make the difference between finding you alive or dead.
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