A woman in Alaska has learned a valuable lesson about proper manners when encountering a brown bear.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A volunteer at the Eagle River Nature Center is recovering after being bitten by a brown bear sow. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials say Sarah Wallmer was bitten on the buttocks on the Crow Pass Trail, about a mile from the nature center.
The attack happened Thursday as Wallmer was traveling to the Rapids camp yurt. She was running with her dog, about 10 minutes ahead of another volunteer.
Officials say she was making noise on the trail to announce her presence, but the blowing wind probably obscured her voice.
The bear charged her, and she dropped her dog's leash and turned her back to the sow. The bear bit her once.
It is, of course, well known that bears are sticklers for proper etiquette. When meeting a bear it is considered bad form to show them your butt. They are liable to bite said butt in order to teach a lesson. Consider it a sort of a bruin Miss Manners.
</humor> Seriously: Bad idea to turn your back on a bear. Make noise, avoid eye contact but do not run or turn as if you are trying to do so. Quick rundown here.
First off, running by yourself on a trail in bear country when its windy is dumb. Just plain dumb. Glacier National Park in Montana has a high number of these encounters ( they are not attacks ) because the trails are narrow with limited sight distance and the winds are high and swirling. Bears have poor eyesight, they depend on their sense of smell. When someone stumbles into a bear, the bear simply swats or nips the offender to drive it off. If a bear attacked you, you would die and not be able to tell your part of the story. I do agree in not running but simply backing away is all I have needed to do both with grizzlies and black bears.