Chicago is practically tailor made for family getaways, with a wealth of interactive museums, fabulous parks and jaw-dropping architecture.
20.07.2023 - 12:17 / edition.cnn.com
You’re out for a hike on a glorious fall day. Suddenly, you spot a bear. And the bear has spotted you, too. Would you know what to do next?
Beth Pratt sure would.
She was once on the Old Gardiner Road Trail in Yellowstone National Park, enjoying her run in wild nature. Her reverie came to an end when she came upon a grizzly bear eating flowers.
“I stopped. It stood on its hind legs and looked at me. I knew that wasn’t a threatening gesture,” she told CNN Travel. “I’m not kidding, it waved its paw at me as if to say, ‘just go on your way,’ and went back to eating.”
“And I walked slowly away and put some distance between us, and the encounter ended fine.”
When it comes to dealing with bears, Pratt does have a thing or two on almost all the rest of us, though.
She is the California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, a job she’s had for more than 10 years. She also worked in Yellowstone for several years – and once saw nine grizzlies in one day there.
She’s also the author of “When Mountain Lions are Neighbors,” which addresses how people can co-exist with wildlife in California. And there’s a chapter just on bears.
Finally, she lives on the border of Yosemite National Park, and bears will pass through her yard, including this one seen in the footage above in late September 2021.
You can hear the enthusiasm in Pratt’s voice as she shares her bear bona fides and advice to make sure bear/human encounters are delightful, not dangerous.
“A wild bear is a beautiful sight to see. It’s incredible to see them in the wild. I never had a bad experience with bears. What I try to get people to feel is respect, not fear, for bears. The animal usually wants to avoid the encounters.”
Bear attacks are rare, Pratt and US National Park Service websites point out, but they do happen:
• A man in his 60s was killed by a bear in Arizona as he sat at his campsite in June 2023.
• Two collegiate wrestlers were mauled by a grizzly bear near Cody, Wyoming, in October 2022; they had serious injuries but survived.
• A hiker died in a suspected grizzly attack in Montana in late March 2022.
• A 70-year-old hunter was seriously injured by a bear in France in November 2021.
• In North Carolina, a couple’s unleashed dog attracted unwanted attention from a black bear in early fall 2021 as they were picnicking on the Blue Ridge Parkway; they and their pet survived
All illustrate the point that rare doesn’t equal never.
While it pays to be diligent at any time, autumn is a particularly good season to bone up on bear facts and safety when many bears are in a phase known as hyperphagia, Pratt said. “It’s a period in the fall where bears are eating anything and everything to
Chicago is practically tailor made for family getaways, with a wealth of interactive museums, fabulous parks and jaw-dropping architecture.
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