News

California Hikers Urged to Exercise Food Safety to Avoid Bear Encounters

California Hikers Urged to Exercise Food Safety to Avoid Bear Encounters

A California black bear roams in Three Rivers, Calif. on Oct. 23, 2015. (Brian Melley/AP Photo)

Summer Lane
Summer Lane

7/14/2024

Updated: 7/14/2024

0

Visitors headed to the Lake Tahoe Basin in California this summer and fall should take steps to exercise caution around bears, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“There are a lot of bears here and those bears have an incredibly strong sense of smell and a strong desire for food that intensifies at different times of the year, particularly in the fall,” with the onset of hyperphagia, a feeling of extreme hunger that drives bears to hunt and search for food, environmental scientist Alexia Ronning said in a press release July 11 from the department’s Tahoe Interagency Bear Team.

According to the National Park Service, the intense period during the fall is when bears put on weight to carry them through the cold winter months of hibernation.

“Make sure that food is stored properly and in designated locations and give a safe distance to wildlife,” Sequoia and Kings Canyon public affairs officer Holly Brown told The Epoch Times.

Black bears are the most prevalent type of bear in the California Sierra Nevada mountains. Ms. Brown said they don’t interact with human visitors very often.

But the most common problem hikers or campers may encounter with bears is related to food.

“If food isn’t stored properly, that’s how bears start to access it,” she said.

It is also important to bring a “bear-proof” ice chest, which means it must be able to be locked and sealed without any way for a bear to pry it open, the state department’s bear team said in the press release. The agency recommended putting the ice chest inside what’s known as a bear box, which is a sealed canister.

Visitors should keep scented items like lip balm, deodorant, and toothpaste inside bear boxes to avoid attracting wildlife, according to the agency.

Visitors are also urged to bring specialty items like bear spray and air horns or whistles to deter bears who get too close.

“Those noises will help scare a bear away to a safer distance and the noise will also warn fellow campers and hikers that a bear is nearby,” said Ms. Ronning, a scientist with the state wildlife department.

Copy
facebooktwitterlinkedintelegram

Summer Lane is the bestselling author of 30 adventure books, including the hit "Collapse Series." She is a reporter and writer with years of experience in journalism and political analysis. Summer is a wife and mother and lives in the Central Valley of California.

Author's Selected Articles

©2023-2024 California Insider All Rights Reserved. California Insider is a part of Epoch Media Group.