The Bear Necessities

I live in black bear habitat, an area blessed with many green spaces containing streams and creeks which form natural wildlife corridors that extend into residential areas. Since my running so far has been through the winter and early spring months, I haven’t felt any real cause for concern knowing that the bears were safely hibernating in their dens up in the mountains. But it’s now early June and the bears have been out and about for at least a month or so, and they are surely hungry after their long winters’ nap. I know it’s only a matter of time before they leave their playground in the mountains and come to my playground down here in search of easy food sources.


I know that not getting along with the bears is not an option. They have become so well adapted that the placement of a community in their home range doesn’t faze them. It’s up to us to accept the fact that bears live in close proximity and we need to educate ourselves on the do’s and don’ts of living with them. Keeping this in mind, and knowing that West Van has several sightings and bear encounters each year, I decided to do a little research on black bears with the hope of increasing my knowledge and therefore my safety if I ever had a chance bear encounter. My findings were interesting, sometimes amusing, and dispelled a few myths.

• Black bears are a highly misunderstood species and many people have an exaggerated fear of them. “People can live with real bears. It’s the bears roaming the wilds of the human imagination that are impossible to get along with.” (Dave Smith in Backcountry Bear Basics). 

 This is me alright. I have had a longstanding, reoccurring dream about being chased by a bear around the old neighborhood I lived in as a child. This has likely fueled my fears about bear encounters.

• Every year, millions of people in N. America encounter black bears; yet, between 1900 and the summer of 2005, only 57 people were killed by black bears. Meanwhile, 50 Americans are reported to die annually from bee stings, 300 Americans died from domestic dog attacks in the USA in 19 years (between 1979 and 1998) and 2 million people die worldwide each year from diseases that are carried by mosquitoes.

Apparently you have a better chance of winning the lottery than being killed by a black bear!

• Most fatal black bear attacks have occurred in remote areas where bears are unaccustomed to people.

This is somewhat reassuring, however, some of the trails I run on feel like they are pretty remote early in the morning.

•  Current evidence suggests that menstruation does not increase the likelihood of an attack by a black or grizzly bear, but tampons are recommended over pads. 

 Where on earth did this myth come from anyway?

• Black bears’ lives are ruled by fear and food, in that order. Bears do not understand English or French, but they do understand a language of dominance and submission.

This is good,  I’m sure my panting and groaning and incessant nose blowing while running will alert any bears of my presence along the trail. Or I could try singing, I’m sure that would scare the heck out of them right of the bat.

• Always be alert to the possibility of a bear encounter by looking for signs of recent bear activity. Signs can include scat (droppings), tracks, evidence of digging, and claw or bite marks on trees.

So far so good, I haven’t seen any signs of bears...just very large dogs.

• Although bears have injured people in national parks and campgrounds where food is scarce. There’s never been an injury at a garbage dump. When there is so much food around it's hard to tempt them with food. More importantly, only those bears that feel comfortable will come close. Most dumps are closed to the public now, but for decades, people and bears mingled daily at hundreds of dumps with hardly a problem.

Well I can safely say I run through neighborhoods with backyards filled with fruit trees, bird feeders, smelly composts, barbecues, and garbage cans left outside. Surely this is as good as a garbage dump to a bear. I’m thinking most bears given a choice would choose the residential backyards for an easy smorgasbord versus foraging along a trail.


Looking at the bear facts, I’m feeling more confident about running in bear territory. It sounds like the odds of actually having a bear encounter will be minimal, if one even happens at all. The next time I run with my head down looking for scat, tracks and other bear signs, I must remember to lift up my head and whistle a happy tune, perhaps something that goes like this:


Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Of Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life.