Bear Shakes RV, Shreds Tent in Alaska Campground

Park rangers near Fairbanks, Alaska, are asking campers and picnickers to be careful after a bear shredded an empty tent at Chena Lake Recreation Area and later rocked a small RV back and forth while a person was inside, according to the Juneau Empire.

Borough recreation area manager Matt Steffy said rangers have posted warning signs on trails and at campgrounds.

Steffy said the bear visited an empty campsite Monday evening (May 24), destroying the tent and the pillows and sleeping bags inside. The bear also got into some garbage or food that had been left out.

The campers initially reported the incident to some firefighters who were battling a small wildfire at the recreation area. Troopers were called, but the bear had left the scene by then, said Sgt. Scott Quist, with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers in Fairbanks.

The bear returned to the other side of the campground about five hours later and shook the RV. The woman inside honked the horn, prompting the bear to climb a tree before leaving a short time later.

The woman, who is from out of state, was rattled by the incident but not enough to prevent her from spending another night or two at the campground, Steffy said.

Steffy isn’t certain if it was a black bear or a grizzly; either way, it was big.

“We’ve got some pretty good claw marks going up the tree,” he said. “It may be a pretty large black bear.”

Quist said there’s a chance the bear was rubbing against the RV, not rocking it.

“At this time of year, when they’re shedding, they scratch on just about anything they can find,” Quist said.

With the Memorial Day weekend approaching, park rangers reminded campers and picnickers to clean up their camps and garbage.

Quist said a “game plan” will be needed if the bear comes back.

“If it continues to show fearlessness, we’ll have to take action,” Quist said. “Hopefully it’s just passing through and isn’t a local resident.”

No word on the make or style of RV that withstood the bear incident.

SOURCE:   RV Business

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200 Pound Bear Rescued from Oxnard Tree in California

I know as a camper myself, many of us have at least had a bear enter our campsite at night looking for food.  I remember as a kid camping with my family on the Tennessee River one year when I had my first bear experience.  We were all sleeping in our tents and I was the only one who woke up to the sound of him sniffing around the door of our tent.  I could see him from where I was sleeping through the screen mesh, and I was terrified!  I recalled that I had been taught to just lay still and play dead (which by the way is very difficult for a child to do when there is a big bear trying to get in her tent!).  I remember once he wandered off finally being able to breathe after holding my breath for what seemed like an eternity.  It was then that I woke my parents so they could scope out our campsite for safety.  Beautiful animals, but such terrifying power they hold! 

A 200-pound bear climbed a tree in Oxnard and fell asleep for more than two hours.

This bear had several tranquilizer darts stuck in its side and was perched in a precarious position.

Sleeping bear rescued in Oxnard. (KTLA-TV / May 4, 2010)

OXNARD, Calif. -- Fire crews on Tuesday morning were working to rescue a bear that ran around a Ventura County neighborhood for hours before climbing a tree at a cemetery and taking a long nap. 

The 200-pound bear was partially tranquilized and had at least three darts stuck in its side when it fell asleep about 25-feet up in the tree, wedged in branches. 

The bear was reported prowling a neighborhood near Santa Clara Cemetery just after 2 a.m. Tuesday. It was first spotted in the parking lot of a fire station on Vineyard Avenue, then up a tree in a condominium complex. 

The bear eventually climbed the cemetery wall and made itself comfortable in the tree for more than two hours with its head and feet dangling the entire time.

Fish and Game officials along with the fire department worked to safely remove the groggy bear using harnesses and a ladder truck.

Crews cut down some branches and, around 9 a.m., carefully lifted the sleeping bear out of the tree.

Fish and Game experts bundled the bear in a tarp, and police say it will be released in Los Padres National Forest.

Dramatic Rescue of California Black Bear Video from CNN.com

NEW STORY SOURCE:  KTLA News

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