Clues to bear necessities of Canada

By SCOTT MacLEOD

We were desperate to see a bear as we trekked through southern Canada, but it was comforting that when we did spot one we were safe in our tour van. After all, wild bears can be dangerous, especially when they're startled.

The first clue to this can be found in some rural general stores, which sell bear bells.

Tour guide Tom Ryan says bushwalkers wear the bells so that bears can hear them coming and get out of the way, thus avoiding an unpleasant confrontation. Some bushwalkers also carry pepper spray.

But cannier bushwalkers know how to spot bear poo (scat). Ryan reckons that the way to realise that a brown bear is about is to come across scat containing the remnants of berries. Grizzly bear scat, he jokes, is even easier to spot. It has berries, too, but also contains little metal bells and smells of pepper.

Most Canadian bushwalkers who don't wear bear bells tend to improvise by singing, clapping and sounding like a Hare Krishna tour party.

Ryan says bear attacks are rare. Just don't get between a grizzly and its cubs or food, he says, and you should be fine.

We saw our adolescent black bear near the end of our 10-day trip in Marble Canyon, British Columbia. Our van whipped around a corner on Highway 99 and there it was on the side of the road. We were stoked, of course, and desperate to record the sighting. I shot three pictures before the bear scampered off towards the nearby river. Disappointingly, all the photos were under-exposed or out of focus.