Well, hello, and welcome to my presentation on large carnivores in the Pacific Northwest.
My name is Mandy Smith, and I'm a graduate student at Miami University in Ohio, not Florida.
It's the name of a river, but let's get started.
Number one, do carnivores want to eat me?
You may have some preconceived notions about the large carnivores that we have here in
the Pacific Northwest, such as cougars, and black bears, and grizzly bears, and wolves.
Who of us hasn't seen one of those movies where wolves go to fantastic lengths just
to get a bite out of a princess?
Well, cinematic value aside, believe it or not, wolves, black bears, grizzly bears,
and cougars don't spend their time plotting to get humans.
Maybe we just don't taste that good?
I won't take it personally.
They're usually just trying to go about their regular business, just like you or me.
You know, grooming, eating salad, swimming, whatever that wolf is doing, being cute, walking
with your mom in the woods, maybe do a little fishing, snuggling, coughing up a hairball,
more snuggling, and oh look, that is so cute.
Look at the bear eating out of the trash can- well, actually, that's not such a good thing,
but we'll on that later.
In reality, there hasn't been a human or a princess killed in the lower 48 states by
a wolf in the wild since before this guy was president from 1897 to 1901.
This is our 25th president, William McKinley, and yes, I totally had to look that up.
So if we look at this the other way around, humans are actually way more dangerous to
carnivores than they are to us.
Take the grizzly bear for example here.
Before that last guy was president, grizzly bears lived all over the western United States
in the yellow area, but by 1970, they could only be found in those teeny tiny little orange
areas.
But do you want to know what the most dangerous animal in the United States actually is?
It's not bears, wolves, or cougars, it's DEAR, although to be fair, most of those deaths
are due to vehicle collisions.
But what's the next deadliest animal?
It's got to be wolves, right?
Nope, bees and wasps and hornets, followed by horses, then cows, and I think that's enough
with the horns.
I mean, cows already have horns, followed by domestic dogs.
Maybe not this particular little guy.
Next are arachnids, like this black widow spider here, rattlesnakes, alligators, and
then sharks.
I bet you didn't think they'd be this slow on the list either, huh?
That's a whole other video though.
But how likely are you really to be killed by an animal?
I mean, any animal?
Well, let me show you a list of a few things that are more likely to kill you in the United
States.
Still going.
In case you missed it, you are more likely to be killed by a lightning strike or an elevator.
Then you are to be killed by cougars, wolves, and bears combined.
So yay, that means that carnivores are perfectly safe, and we have absolutely no reason to
fear them, right?
No, they still have the potential to be very dangerous, which brings us to part two, staying
safe while camping and hiking.
Guess what?
You get to do a quiz.
So here's the first question.
What should you do if you see a bear, cougar, or wolf in the wild?
Should you A, climb the nearest tree, B, back away slowly, making yourself look as big as
possible, C, pet it, it's so fluffy I could die, or D, run, screaming, I'll give you a
few seconds to figure this out.
Time's up.
The correct answer is B. If you see a bear, cougar, or wolf in the wild, back away slowly
while making yourself look as big as possible.
And here's an example of what I mean.
There's a cougar in the picture, but this applies to bears and wolves as well.
Put your arms up, put your jacket up, try to look scary.
Now why can't you climb a tree, you ask?
Well let me show you why you can't climb a tree.
Oh look at that, it's a cougar in a tree, and there's a bear.
They can both climb trees really, really well, even the larger grizzly bear, which can grow
it away over 800 pounds, may still be able to climb a sturdy tree, or it can try very
hard to knock down a smaller tree with you still in it.
Now a lot of people think I would just run away.
No, do not run away, don't do it, and I'll tell you why.
This is Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt is the fastest person on the planet, maybe of all time, and his top speed ever
was 27.7 miles per hour, and that was on a flat track, keep in mind.
Now a cougar's average speed is between 40 to 50 miles per hour, grizzly bears can run
between 30 to 40 miles per hour, the grey wolf can run 35 miles per hour, and even the
slowest, the black bear, its average speed is at least 30 miles per hour.
So you should not run away from any of these animals because they can run faster than you.
Alright here comes the next question.
While hiking in Carnivore Country, which of these things should you do, and there may
be more than one correct answer for this one, A. Make noise on the trail so you won't surprise
a predator, B. Carry bear spray and have it easily accessible at all times, or C. Make
sure to leave out lots of food in case the bears get hungry.
And I'll give you a few seconds, times up.
So there are two correct answers to this question, A. Make noise on the trail so that you won't
surprise a predator, and B. Carry bear spray and have it easily accessible at all times.
It's not going to do you much good if it's in your backpack.
So what is bear spray?
Well, it's kind of like regular pepper spray, but it is much, much stronger.
And unlike pepper spray, it comes out in cloud instead of just a stream, so it's much more
likely to get a charging bear, cougar, or wolf.
It even works for an attack by stray domestic dogs, which is more likely to happen than
being attacked by wolves or bears or cougars.
Bear spray is more effective than a firearm in fact.
People who used bear spray have a higher survival rate than people with a gun.
A charging animal is not likely to slow down so you can get a perfect shot.
And bonus, it also helps teach the bears to stay away from humans, which makes it a great
non-lethal alternative.
Okay, last question.
Which of the following precautions should you NOT take while camping?
A, store food in a bear-resistant container at least 10 feet off the ground, B, cook and
handle all food at least 100 yards from your tent, or C, keep all of your trash inside
your tent to keep it safe from predators.
Give you a few seconds.
Time's up, but the correct answer for what you should NOT do is C, store all of your
trash inside your tent to keep it safe from predators and let me show you why.
Predators can easily rip open a tent or even a cooler as we see here.
Bears in particular have an amazing sense of smell, even better than dogs, especially
when it comes to food.
So even though cougars and wolves are strictly carnivorous and aren't interested in your
trash per se, they would be interested in any prey species who do like our trash, like
a raccoon for example.
But let's talk about what you should do if you go camping.
At your campsite, you want to keep all of your food, trash, and even the clothes you
wear to cook in at least 100 yards away from your tent, preferably in bear resistant containers,
and they should be off the ground by at least 10 feet and in between two supports with about
4 feet on either side.
In addition, you want to cook your food about 100 yards away from your tent and 100 yards
away from where you store your food and trash.
So your campsite will kind of look like a triangle.
The goal here is to keep any food odors out of your tent, so don't even keep a granola
bar in there.
This way, if you have some unwelcome visitors at night, they won't be checking inside your
tent for a treat.
Just in case though, have your bear spray handy.
The next and final part is for anyone who lives in or adjacent to carnivore country.
The most important rule for anyone who lives in carnivore country is this.
Don't feed the bears.
You might think they're really cute and it's really cool to have them in your backyard.
You just want to give them a little treat, but here's the deal, and this affects black
bears in particular.
Black bears are naturally shy creatures, but when they start to think that humans equal
food, they start to lose that fear and they become more aggressive.
Now, this puts humans in danger and it puts neighborhood pets in danger, but the one
who usually suffers the most is the bear.
They may be relocated at first, but if they keep on coming back, and this is real talk
here, they will likely be put down.
Super sad, I know.
So let's talk about a few things you can do to prevent this if you live in predator
country.
See the most important thing you can do is to secure your trash recycling and compost
in bear resistant containers.
Here's our grizzly friend from earlier who easily got into the tent in the cooler, trying
his best to get this bear resistant container open, and he was not able to do it, not for
lack of trying.
It also helps to keep these sealed containers in your garage until the morning of pickup.
Pet food.
So it's best to feed your pets inside the house, but that's not always possible.
So alternately, feed pets in the middle of the day and clean up any leftover or spilled
food.
Don't leave it out, especially at night.
If it doesn't attract a carnivore, it could attract a critter that would attract a carnivore.
Bird feeders.
Just like when you're camping, you want to store bird feeders, if you have them, at
least 10 feet off the ground between two supports with about 4 feet of distance between
each of those.
If you have any fruit trees or berry bushes, make sure to pick them regularly and don't
leave rotting fruit on the ground.
Ideally, an electric fence is the best way to protect them.
Now there is one more rule that is very important if you live alongside carnivores.
Okay, so it's exactly the same as rule number one, but it is really important.
Make sure that you don't feed the bears, please.
Well, it's time for part four, which is the end.
In conclusion, our large carnivores are not the dangerous princess eating monsters you
might have seen in the movies, but they are still wild animals.
Hopefully, if you take the safety measures that I've gone over in this video, you should
be able to happily coexist with the black bears, cougars, wolves, and our teeny tiny
population of grizzly bears here in the Pacific Northwest.
Just don't coexist too closely.
