Researchers Attempt to Teach Bears Lesson in Fear of Humans

People roaming the back country of Wyoming and Montana run the risk of getting treed, mauled and, in rare instances, killed by grizzlies. Now, researchers are trying to teach grizzlies to feel the same dread of humans--for their own good.

Their theory is that through “aversive conditioning” even problem bears can be taught such a healthy fear of humans that they will avoid contact with them.

“They may still stay around people, but they won’t get into trouble,” said Charles Jonkel, a University of Montana professor who has been studying bears for two decades.

Jonkel has tested a variety of devices and substances to repel bears.

‘Bag of Tricks’

“We have a whole bag of tricks,” Jonkel said. They include a “bear thumper,” a whiplash device, ultrasonic noise, skunk odor, shark repellent, rapidly inflating balloons and a spray solution of red pepper, which has been the most effective deterrent.

The idea is to condition the bear to associate charging at people with an undesirable consequence.

“You have to hurt its nose or its eyes or its hind end or its brain,” he said. “Somehow, you’ve got to communicate with the animal that it’s doing something it shouldn’t do.

“At some point they just avoid what you’re trying to get them to avoid. It’s just like training a dog. Some animals learn very quickly, and some don’t. I suppose some never will learn.”

In Wyoming, researchers plan to shoot bears with special rubber bullets at a remote camp east of Yellowstone National Park, hoping to persuade them not to steal food from hunters or backpackers. The $40,000 cost is shared by the state Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Assistant Chief Game Warden Dale Strickland said bears that come within 150 yards of the camp will set off a recording of human voices. If they come within 30 yards, they will be shot with rubber slugs.

‘Needed Desperately’

Jonkel believes aversive conditioning can help preserve the big bears. “I think it is needed desperately, especially when you see subadult females (most valuable for breeding) dying in . . . Yellowstone,” he said.

“The gradual loss of habitat is still the main worry,” he explained. “The demands on the land are going to intensify, probably very dramatically, and that means the bears will have a much harder time. It’s probably inevitable that bears--and other things like bears--will have increasingly tough times ahead” as housing projects, ski resorts and the like encroach on their habitat.

“We can keep them forever,” Jonkel said, “but it’s going to cost more and more, and I just don’t know how long people will pay the bill.”