We seem to be hearing more and more about incidents with bears these days. On Tuesday, a scavenging bear at Lakes Basin near the town of Mammoth got into a fisherman’s snack supply. Over the years bears have learned when and where people leave their food unattended and scout out these areas for easy meals. After the initial fright, most people know to make lots of noise and scare the bear off by banging pots and pans. However, this week, the fisherman at Lakes Basin acted differently. Instead, he ran back to his car, pulled out a .44 caliber handgun and shot the bear. So far reports say that the shooting was unprovoked, as the bear did not charge or swipe at the man. An investigation is being conducted, and if the game warden decides the shooting was not in self defense, the fisherman will have to pay some large fines.
The worst part of this story is that this situation was entirely preventable. Stories like this further underscore the importance and necessity for using bear cans and taking the proper precautions while in the outdoors. We have put together a list of important bear safety measures that can help to reduce the amount of situations like that in Lakes Basin.
