polar bear v guy with a shovel & a 22

[kickingfrog]

Sorry, meant to post this earlier but things have been a little hectic. This was in Thursday's paper.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...uery=polar+bear

 

 

In battle over man's best friend, it's Man 1, Bear 0

When a polar bear attacked 72-year-old Ed Dyson's dog Foot, he reached for the first weapon at hand - his shovel

OLIVER MOORE

 

February 19, 2009

 

People who say they would do anything for their pets could learn a lesson from Ed Dyson, a 72-year-old Labrador man who took his shovel to a polar bear that was going after his dog.

 

The dog weighs in at less than 10 kilograms, a mutt his owner described as "part beagle and part something else." But Foot is not lacking in bravado and did not hesitate when the bear approached him Tuesday.

 

"The dog went right towards him," said Mr. Dyson, who saw the encounter unfold just outside his house in the tiny coastal community of Black Tickle. "He just grabbed the dog and threw him up in the air."

 

That was enough for Foot, who retreated under a patio-like structure. As the bear tried to get at the dog again, Mr. Dyson realized he had to act. No slouch himself when it comes to guts, he grabbed the nearest weapon at hand.

 

Print Edition - Section Front

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"I rushed over with the shovel and had a smack at him, I hit him in the head," Mr. Dyson said yesterday. "He just looked at me, he looked at me very serious. I threw the shovel in his face and went inside to get the gun."

 

He took one shot with his .22 rifle, hitting the bear just behind the shoulder. The bear, which Mr. Dyson estimated at 350 to 450 kilograms, fled and has not been seen in the community since.

 

Andrew Derocher, a leading polar bear expert and professor at the University of Alberta, has no illusions about the potential dangers the animals can pose.

 

"You wouldn't find me chasing after a polar bear with a shovel," he said. "I think that he's incredibly lucky."

 

That said, he also knows that polar bears, who are accustomed to food that doesn't fight back, can sometimes be startled into flight if they are in a curious rather than predatory mood.

 

Fatal attacks by polar bears are extremely rare, he said, in part because few people share their range, but also because many of those who do carry

 

firearms.

 

But they still happen occasionally. A polar bear found at a family's tent south of Rankin Inlet in 2000 killed a woman after someone tried to frighten it away by throwing stones.

 

Dr. Derocher said that changing ice patterns may force increased co-existence between humans and polar bears, requiring people to take new precautions with food, garbage and pets.

 

"Polar bears are happy to eat dogs," he noted. "Bears are quite adept at catching them and they'll just gobble them up."

 

In Black Tickle, an island community in which the winter ice allows easy access from the mainland, signs of polar bears are not unusual. But residents say they typically don't turn up until March.

 

"It's not too often you see them, you see their footprints but you never see them," Mr. Dyson said. "I think this is [going to be] a bad year because they don't usually roam this early."

 

*****

 

The latest on bear defence

 

Deadly bear attacks are extremely rare and, luckily, the more common type of aggression is also the least dangerous.

 

Experts have moved away from advice tailored for encounters with the various species of bear.

 

The current wisdom is to consider whether the bear's behaviour is defensive or predatory.

 

Encounters with defensive bears are more common and suggest the bear views the person as a threat.

 

In these situations, the bear tends to posture and make a lot of noise, which one expert said is the bear's way of saying "you're too close."

 

"It's supposed to look threatening, it usually intimidates the opponent into going away," said Sylvia Dolsen, executive director of the Get Bear Smart Society, a B.C. group which tries to prevent human-bear conflict. "If the bear is making all kinds of blustering behaviour, this is your chance to back away."

 

Predatory attacks, in which the human is hunted actively, are more rare and much more dangerous. Parks Canada warns that people in this situation have to do "whatever it takes to let the bear know you are not easy prey."

 

Although rare, either type of attack can turn deadly. At least 16 deaths caused by bears have been reported in Canada this decade. Ten were caused by black bears, nearly half in Quebec. The bulk of the five deaths caused by grizzlies were in Alberta, and the lone fatality by a polar bear was in Nunavut.Oliver Moore

 

****

 

Man vs. beast

 

Ed Dyson fought off a bear estimated at 350 to 450 kgs.

 

Male polar bears stand between 2 and 3 metres high and weigh up to 500 kg or more.

 

TRISH McALASTER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL