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Some people living near Jack's Peak Park are on edge after a reported bear sighting. Officials say it is rare in the area and only happens every few years. Neighbors say this is something they never thought they'd see in their community. Images show the bear casually strolling through the La Mesa neighborhood in Monterey just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. The bear was described as having long, shaggy brown fur and standing about three feet tall and four feet wide. "I kind of freaked out because I lived out here my whole life, and I've never even heard of...

Over a year ago, I started tracking down a story about a bear killed in self-defense in Wisconsin in a chicken coop with a .22 Magnum revolver. With considerable effort, the source of the story was contacted.Around about 1964 or 65′, a boy accompanied his father on the Menomonee Reservation in east-central Wisconsin. A well-known logger was visited. Upon entering the log house, made of logs cut and fitted by the logger, with a fine living room paneled in knotty pine, the boy noticed a bear-skin rug with a Ruger Single Six revolver prominently displayed above the mantle of a...

Six people who shared a meal involving black bear meat kebabs have been diagnosed with trichinellosis, a parasitic zoonotic disease. In a new report released this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that in July 2022, a 29-year old hospitalized patient with suspected trichinellosis was reported to the Minnesota health department. His symptoms included fever, severe muscle aches, periorbital edema or eye swelling, and eosinophilia or the condition of elevated levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. According to the report, a week prior to the symptoms appearing, the patient and eight other people...

Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist.The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important.These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We have always asked for examples of failures....

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, Ethan Daubs surprised a large boar black bear in an oak brush patch near his house. Ethan is 23 years old. The boar climbed a tree as Daubs drew his Ruger Security 9 from his military-style holster. The bear was about seven yards away. Ethan yelled at the bruin, and it took off at speed across a field. Ethan considered the speed of the respectful bear as it retreated through the woods. He made a policy decision. In the future, if he heard strange noises in the brush, he would draw first, evaluating as events...

The man attacked and mauled by a grizzly in Grand Teton National Park on Sunday was amazingly lucky During the attack, the grizzly chomped down on his can of bear spray, which exploded it into her face and immediately ended the ordeal The out-of-state man who was mauled by a mother grizzly in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on Sunday apparently had a phenomenal stroke of luck when the apex predator essentially bear-sprayed itself. The attack on a 35-year-old Massachusetts man ended when the grizzly bit into his can of bear spray, bursting it into her own face, according to...

A Massachusetts man survived what officials are calling a “surprise attack” by two grizzlies on Sunday at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, authorities said. According to Jeremy Barnum, Grand Teton’s chief of staff, the 35-year-old man, who has not been identified, was in stable condition, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. The man had a “surprise encounter” with two grizzlies in the Signal Mountain Area of the park Sunday afternoon, according to the Cowboy State Daily. According to a news release from the National Park Service, one of the bears attacked the victim, inflicting serious injuries. “Grand Teton...

Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We have always asked for examples...

Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We always appreciate readers who help...

The use of handguns as a defense against bears has been shown to be effective 98% of the time. In this study, all cases that can be documented, where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear, are included. This is done by design to guard against selection bias. All cases cite the source for the case information. Unlike other attempts to put a number on how effective handguns, long guns, or bear spray are in defending against bears, every case is described to readers so they can come to their own conclusions. Readers may disregard any incidents at...

In 2014, John Gookin, Tom Smith, and Alison Williams published a paper in Human-Wildlife Interactions titled: A Device for Refilling Practice Bear Spray Canisters. The paper shows how to build and use the device. This correspondent has long maintained bear spray has a valid place as a means of protection against bears. Bear spray does not appear to be as effective in stopping bear attacks as handguns. This does not mean it is not useful. Bear spray can work effectively as a device to haze bears which are merely curious. Bear spray is generally a better deterrent than shouting or...

A young Ottawa woman and her friend were killed Monday night in a bizarre collision involving two vehicles and a bear on Highway 148 in the Pontiac. Police say a vehicle travelling eastbound near Luskville, Que. hit the 300-pound black bear at about 10:30 Monday night, sending the animal into the opposite lane. The bear was then struck by an on-coming car, sending the animal through the windshield and out the back window. "Add the weight of the bear, about a 300-pound bear, plus the speed of the vehicle, it's a deadly impact," said Const. Martin Fournel, spokesperson for MRC-des-Collines-de-l'Outaouais....

As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is familiar with navigating personal and political minefields in the public eye. But there's one milestone she's anticipating with apprehension: becoming a grandmother. Speaking in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar, Mrs Clinton said that she'd probably be an 'unbearable' grandmother, but she'd love it if her newly-married daughter, Chelsea, were to have children

The left wing cabal to manage the news known as Journolist is apparently guilty if one of the cardinal sins of the left: lack of diversity. Big Fur Hat, the comic genius who posts regularly on iOwnTheWorld.com, has assembled head shots of the publicly identified members of the listserv group, and guess what? Not a single African-American is to be found. (See update below!) Of course, many members' identities still remain to be uncovered. They are so ashamed oif their behavior that they cower in the shadows. Perhaps there are a few African-Americans who will step forward and identify themselves,...

Excuse the (properly posted) vanity but dang it is hot! And tomorrow it get really hot with temps at 118 F and humidity at about 48 percent. Today they say it was 120 outside. It has its advantages.... 1. If you don't finish all your coffee on your morning drive, it is still hot when you come out for lunch. 2. If you like to drive with no hands that is not a problem - the steering wheel is too hot to touch anyhow. 3. No need to take you food into work to cook it. Just leave it on...

Springville, Utah -- A black bear that bit a sleeping Boy Scout through the wall of his tent was shot after it later returned to the camp, authorities said. Colton Stewart, 14, woke up early Wednesday to a burning sensation in his upper arm, then realized it was a bear biting his arm through the tent, state wildlife officials said. He pulled away and heard the bear run off through the brush. "It wasn't biting viciously. They put their mouth on things to see what they taste like," said Anis Aoude, regional wildlife manager for the state Division of Wildlife...

Fellow FReepers, Last night I watched the Discovery Channel's debut of Grizzly Man, a documentary based upon the life of Timothy Treadwell. The film was mostly footage that Treadwell shot himself in Alaska, but also included interviews with close friends and associates. The dude was a nut, plain and simple. What he was thinking, I will never know. The film didn't do a very good job of explaining exactly what happened when he was killed. But it sounds like he happened upon a bear and before he could remove the camera lens cap, it attacked. Thus, there is audio of...

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger smiles during a timeout late in the fourth quarter of a 21-9... PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The field was soft and muddy and the snow was falling heavily on one of those nasty-weather days most NFL offensive players despise. To Jerome Bettis, the conditions were next to perfect. Bettis, the NFL's No. 5 career rusher but a forgotten man much of the season, plowed through the muck and snow for two touchdowns and 101 yards and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat Chicago 21-9 on Sunday to end the Bears' eight-game winning streak. A season-long lack of...

THE GOAL of Grizzly People, its Web site explains, is "to elevate the grizzly to the kindred state of the whale and dolphin through supportive education in the hopes that humans will learn to live in peace with the bear, wilderness and fellow humans." But as Werner Herzog's latest documentary, "Grizzly Man," demonstrated, the best way for man to live at peace with the bear is to not romanticize grizzlies and to give them a wide berth. Alas, Grizzly People founder Timothy Treadwell had Disney-fied the object of his affection. So, as Herzog chronicled, the 46-year-old bear activist and his...

Top bidders in controversial auction pledge to consider all entries in original contest. Whatever the grizzly girls at the San Francisco Zoo end up being called, one thing is certain: They're not going to be Cinnie and Merrill. The Magowans of Hillsborough, who spent $32,500 on Friday night for the right to name the bears, have no desire for ursine posterity. Instead of serving as namesakes for the young refugees from Montana, as first announced, Merrill and Cinnie Magowan will consider all 750 entries in a public contest that was aggressively promoted and then dumped. "The citizens of San Francisco...