Bear food



Ljubljana TV Interview



University of Ljubljana

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As Maureen wrote about in her last entry, our visit is timely because there is a politically charged situation and people are looking for arguments that would bolster their particular side of the fray. We are able to shore up the bear's side a bit. About a month ago a farmer was walking in the woods and came upon a female brown bear with cubs and his dog ran ahead to bark at the bears; a very typical situation to get into trouble. The bear ran at the dog, the dog ran back to his master and got behind him and the bear attacked the farmer. He was in the hospital for ten days, and it was enough of an incident to get many people upset and started on an anti conservation campaign. As is the circumstances in North America, there is zero tolerance for this particular happening. There have been only three deaths and 14 injuries in Slovenia in the last 50 years and even this remarkably small number is totally unacceptable. With the same attitude as we have in Canada, no one complains about the 500 deaths each year with automobile accidents in this country and the many other acceptable ways to kill oneself. But even one person being hurt by a bear due to carelessness, creates a media stir beyond common sense, especially when it is so understandably the result of a bear defending its cubs.

There is keen interest but extreme polarization about issues regarding their bears. I think people are finding my presentations quite interesting because I can talk to the farmers with some authority having ranched in grizzly country for eighteen years. Also being raised in a hunting family gives me some insight into that culture as well. The hunters here are legislated into having to hunt from a high stand over bait. Anything else is considered too dangerous. That bit I don't understand. It would seem to me that when it comes to taking another animals life, the hunter should have honor enough to even the odds by sharing some risk. A high powered rifle you would think is enough one sided odds without bating and shooting from high stand.

We were taken to one of these stands by hunter in charge of a large area. There were many bear tracks but the bears are shy and nocturnal having been hunted for many years. As one of the photos shows, this hunter was feeding his bears. He said that even though many bears did not hibernate this past winter due to warm weather and no snow, they do not eat very much for several months. Careful questioning suggested that no dangerous bear problems are created as a result of this feeding. The hunters say that it solves many problems such as keeping bears away from populated areas and out of farmers crops at critical times not to mention helping them through times when there is a failure of natural berry crops and the like. The non hunters say that it is mostly done by hunters to control their movements and gives the hunters a unfair advantage.

I have a short video taken by a rancher friend near my place in Alberta showing bears, wolves and cattle interaction. Even I can't take my eyes off some of the scenes he captured over a period of several years on various ranches near Waterton Lakes Park. One part of the video shows a big female and her yearling cub eating a dead cow, which died earlier of natural causes, while other cows and calves graze calmly within a few feet of the bears. Another scene is of a wolf walking through cows, their calves and horses. The cow barely even glance at the wolf while chewing their cuds. Despite centuries of people bear history here, these people seem to also never observe how predators and livestock really interact, so this has been a real hit, even though the farmers don't seem to trust what they are seeing.

The slide presentation of us living with bears in Kamchatka also has credibility problems with some people. During a 70 minute TV debate we were asked to participate in with a local wildlife expert and a university professor, the expert described what he saw of our experiences in Russia as a fairy tale. This got Maureen's ire up a notch and when she got through with him, he was defiantly more careful as to the terms by which he described what he saw. It seems that no mater how much background history people have with bears, it has never occurred to them to have a fair look at whether these animals are as terrible as they are always depicted. When they see our slides of how bears like Brandy accept us and even adapt to us being trustworthy enough to baby-sit her cubs for a while, I too can understand their incredulousness. The neat thing is that these people want to hear what we have to say and have gone to great trouble and expense to bring us here. They have lived with many bears for a long time and seem determined to solve the problems that arise from an ever-increasing human population.

I am doing my last presentation this afternoon and fly home tomorrow. Maureen's and my trails diverge to Frankfurt. She is off to Paris for another exibition.

- Charlie

….. Charlie held 4 lectures in different parts of Slovenia to different peoples who are in one way or other conected to bear problems (farmers, rangers in Triglav National park, experts, politicians, hunters, conversationist, students, profesors….) The response of each lecture was very positive and I think most of the audience was willing to accept experiences Charlie and Maureen bring in Slovenia. It is very important that audience was compounded with higly responsible people who have direct influence to our government.

Therefore I am convinced that Charlie’s and Maureen’s visit took an important part in process of understanding, preserving and improving bear population in Slovenia…..

Matevz Lenarcic