I choose death by bear over assisted "living". Pass the bacon.
Dave
"Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton
Humans that have become habituated to areas like the GSMNP are a danger to themselves, Us, and the Bears. And the places they get that way are in the big, popular parks, close to trail crossings, where day-hikers tread. I never camp within range of day-hikers and overnighters for all kinds of reasons, and the number of bear problems we read about lately seems to bear that out
Humans have literally quadrupled population in 100 years. There's only one party to blame.
Sad to see this. I agree with those talking about abuse and overuse as an explanatory factor. During COVID, the areas I frequent have only seen an uptick in visitor traffic.
Sidebar: I'm seeing trashed backcountry sites at a level I've never witnessed in my life. In addition to trash and overuse I've seen fireworks, bonfires, and even parties looking for fights. This is an area 2 days from the nearest trailhead, where multiple portages tend to keep out the riffraff. Some of my friends recently invested in bear barrels, anticipating more bear encounters as a result of this uptick and some of the behavior we witnessed. (We typically hang our food and have never had negative bear encounters.) I wonder if increased visitor traffic is likewise responsible for the uptick in bear attacks in Alaska, my old stomping grounds.
Habitat encroachment and habitualization are big issues with wildlife. But it is absolutely sobering to see it go up, in magnitudes, in just one year. I am delighted to see how many respectful users are turning to wilderness areas these days. This past year has also shown me how fragile the balance can be.
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