Bear Safety

Recently had the chance to chat with Wyoming Game & Fish's Large Carnivore Supervisor for the entire state of Wyoming Dan Thompson about bear safety.

In Wyoming, coming in contact with a bear is a possibility. There are certain things you can say and do to try and send the bear away.

NBC Montana shared the footage to Twitter on Wednesday morning.

If you visit Yellowstone National Park now, you'll find feeding bears solidly in the "don't" column. But, there was an era many years ago when people were not only allowed to feed bears in Yellowstone, the practice was sort of encouraged.

Many will see this video as a sign that enemies can become friends, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if a glass door had not been between a dog and a bear.

Based on what I've just watched, I believe this might be the worst year ever of people behaving badly with wildlife. A video has gone viral showing a woman hand-feeding a bear a chocolate chip cookie and I'm beside myself.

As a parent, I once bought a playset for my kids. When you live in our part of America, you also need to understand that sometimes it will be used by bears as one family learned.

Bears get a lot of attention in Wyoming, but none quite as much as Grizzly 399. She has become a legend and that has become a big problem this year more than most.

This happened in Washington state. There's a reason why I mention this. It's the story of a guy who woke up and realized he was being sniffed by a bear. He's fortunate because this could have ended up much worse.

When I first saw this, I thought it was fake. It's not. It's a guy who was fishing and decided to tempt a nearby bear with his fish. If there ever was a "touron" in training, it's this guy.