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During one August week, bears broke into 59 vehicles.
By Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee - August 29, 1998
Wildlife biologists one night this week saw 50 Yosemite National Park visitors
with cameras searching the Curry Village parking lot for bears to photograph.
"Some people want a photo of a bear for their family albums," said Yosemite
spokeswoman Christine Cowles, who was with the biologists. "A couple of people
have even left food out on tables at night so bears will come by for a photo."
With prime time for bear encounters close at hand, those practices may turn
this into the park's most destructive year for bear-human incidents, officials
said Friday.
Last year, officials recorded 1,081 incidents and more than $560,000 damage,
mostly to cars pried open by powerful black bears. This year, 1,026 incidents
have been noted with damages of $468,690, according to a Yosemite flier titled
"The Bear Facts: Don't let your car become this week's statistic."
During the third week in August, bears broke into 59 vehicles. And September
and October are usually worse. More persistent food raids are usually expected
in late summer and early fall evenings as bears load up calories for the winter.
At the moment, bears are being attracted by blossoms in a 150-tree apple orchard
used for parking at Curry Village, officials said. The bears can smell the
blossoms miles away.
The Curry Village orchard has been a fairly common place for people to photograph
bears, said ranger and park spokesman Kendell Thompson. Unlike feeding the
bears or tempting them with food, the activity is not illegal. The danger
comes when people follow the bear for a better photographic angle.
"You get one visitor following a bear, then another visitor following the
visitor and the bear," Thompson said. "Pretty soon, you have a crowd of visitors,
herding the bear around. If the I bear becomes cornered, it could I get dangerous."
The situation is more dangerous when the black bears, ranging from 200 pounds
to 350 l pounds, acquire a taste for I human food. The animals often won't
return to forage in the wild, preferring to raid cars, campsites and picnic
areas for higher calorie human food.
The bears can become aggressive, "bluff charging" to scare people away from
ice chests full of food.
Authorities tag such animals, monitor them and even move them to other areas.
But often they return, or they resume food raids somewhere else.
At some point, the bear may have to be killed to protect people. Yosemite
wildlife biologist Steve Thompson said two bears have been killed in the park
this year. Usually, two or three bears must be killed each year.
"It's not an easy decision to make," Thompson said. "People need to be very
careful with their food out here."
Officials say visitors should always assume bears are in the area when they
camp or park in Yosemite Valley.
IF YOU SPOT A BEAR
* Make loud noises. Some rangers advise not throwing anything at the bear;
others say throw small objects near the bear but don't hit it.
* Don't run off and leave your food. You will be "rewarding" the bear and
encouraging more encounters.
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