Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael James
BTW, after much study of European bear species, I Definitely would Not try to scare one away... or even get anywhere near one  . Didn't realize how vicious bears, over there, were  ! |
It is different in here, 'cause we've been literally living with the bears for centuries, they were coming to our villages and taking whatever trash we had stucked next to our houses. That's actually why I wouldn't like to live in the mountain region.
It's impossible to outrun them, outmanouvre them, they can climb trees better than you (even though many of them go above 200kg ~ 440 pounds), they swim faster and you wouldn't want to meet them when they are hungry and annoyed from hot weather (May to september).
The real problem is, that tourists usually pick all the blueberries, strawberries and other forest fruit and the bears have been forced for about 100 years to specialize in rather carnivorous life style.
Fish, other animals, sheep, wolves!, lambs, deers, whatever the forests and mountains offer.
They also learnt something unheard off anywhere out of Europe: They learnt to live in communities and organize themselves for food gathering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lorax
Jack, that was my exact point when I said "I'd never keep a bear as a pet."
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Yet some people in mountain regions have bears as their pets.
It's a symbiosis based on food suppling and I don't dare to guess, what would happen, if the supplier (man) would stop supplying the bear community he holds (nature).
I guess it's nature:mankind 1:0 again.
I just wonder, Beth, those bears of yours, do they have sleeping periods like ours (when it is too hot in Ecuador)? Or are they active whole year long?