Betsy DeVos warned us.
Bears, especially grizzlies, are very dangerous. Black bears too.
That’s why the federal government spends more than $1 million a month to protect her.
You never know when you might encounter a Bear.
If you are like me, you don’t own a gun.
If you plan to visit a national park, this is information you can use.
Here is advice posted by The Washington Post on how to Survive an Encounter with a Bear.
Don’t run. Don’t climb a tree.

But white bears are really rather cuddly, if skinned, tanned and put on the bed.
LikeLike
If you are worried about encountering a bear, carry bear spray, for pity’s sake.
We see black bears fairly regularly up here. (I live near the peak of a sparsely populated mountain.)
With black bears, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. For the most part. If you see a mother bear with cubs, she can be dangerous. Don’t even look like you are approaching her, nor in any way get between her and her cubs.
Otherwise, don’t panic, don’t run away screaming, etc. The advice in the video is pretty good, as far as it goes.
OTOH, I don’t have to deal with grizzlies, just black bears (which can also easily kill you but they’re not normally as aggressive.)
LikeLike
And actually, black bears are considered more dangerous than brown bears (which include the grizzly), certainly more aggressive. Any bear should be best left to its own devices and exiting the area where a bear is, is the top priority.
LikeLike
Are you talking about bears or hedge fund managers?
LikeLike
HFM’s aren’t even considered a sub-species of homo supposedly sapiens.
LikeLike
I think hedge fund managers are a hybrid of sharks and blow fish.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Diane! I was in dire need of this advice. We have a black bear population in NJ. One bear was caught swimming in a resident’s pool.
LikeLike
Don’t panic, Abigail. As I said in my comment, black bears will mostly leave you alone if you leave them alone.
Other advice I can give you:
Don’t leave your garbage cans out all the time. Except when it’s pick-up day, put them in a closed garage or a shed. I don’t care how sturdy your lid is or how many cords or chains or whatever you have the lid tied down with, a bear will be attracted to the smell and will get into it.
I hate to discourage the bird lovers, but do not have a bird feeder, and particularly not a hummingbird feeder, near your house. If the bear is hungry, it will take your bird feeder to eat the seeds (happened to a neighbor of mine) and they love the sugar water in a hummingbird feeder.
LikeLike
Lots of black bears wandering hither and thither here in NJ. I like to bike along nature trails and often wonder what I would do if I encountered a black bear. The advice is don’t run, don’t panic, don’t make eye contact and make sure the bear has an avenue of escape. They sometimes advise making loud noises. As for bird feeders, the problem I’m having is demon squirrels who pillage the bird feed and have destroyed several bird feeders which were supposed to be squirrel proof. Ha, ha, big joke.
We also have the problems of occasional coyotes, rabid raccoons and rabid foxes.
LikeLike
Joe, if you want to discourage squirrels, sprinkle your bird seed with a bit of cayenne pepper. Birds don’t have capsaicin receptors but squirrels do, and they will leave the bird seed alone.
LikeLike
Zorba: Thanks for the advice, I will try the cayenne pepper. I had been using safflower seeds which squirrels are supposedly not interested in. The demon squirrels feasted on the safflower seeds as if they were peanuts, they were not deterred in the least.
LikeLike
It’s not just North Korea. Betsy and Donny are locked and loaded for “grizzlies” and are ready to bring fire and fury in case those animals unionize to protect cubs.
LikeLike
Like!
LikeLike
How about raising money to buy Betsy a dozen wild polar or grizzly bears and then letting them loose in her office when she is there? Also make sure they are all very hungry and irritated before we gift them to her.
Besty’s only defense after her team of bodyguards are consumed will be to attempt bribing them with a voucher.
LikeLike
Good one, Lloyd. Hahahaha….
LikeLike
I always told my friends when we were camping that to keep this bear out of their beer coolers they should put a lock on them. Fools never listened to this wise bear!
LikeLike
Pfft. Try living with the snakes, spiders, crocs, jellyfish and sharks here in Australia. Where I live in Victoria, every snake you see in the wild is poisonous and can kill you!
LikeLike
In Tennessee it is ticks and chiggars. You cannot see the latter, and many of the former are so small and numerous that they congregate in nests of thousands. Now they carry strange diseases.
LikeLike
Chiggers!! Sheer misery .You’re making me itch just mentioning them.
LikeLike
Ticks and chiggars are a part of a commie plot to weaken the citizenry of this country. There is no doubt in that.
LikeLike
Okay, then let’s gather up as many of those Australian snakes as possible and mail them special delivery to Betsy and design the crate so once it is delivered and scanned, it automatically pops open and spills hundreds of those snakes across her carpeted office.
LikeLike
Everyone should read about a new investigation published by Lee Fang of The Intercept who exposes how a libertarian think tank called the Atlas Network is remaking Latin American politics with the help of powerful conservative institutions and funders in the United States, some of whom you may recognize, Devos, the Koch brothers, & Scott Walker.
The Atlas Network promotes Ayn Rand economic ideas to counter progressive governments & ll government funded programs. They oppose all government funding for any social welfare program including foreign aid, education, social security, medicare, health care,
They’ve built smaller think tanks around the continent to teach people how to undermine unions, end public pension systems, agitate street protests against leftist governments. Their long term strategy includes bringing in anti-govt cranks like James O’Keefe & Grover Nordquist to teach about media sabotage & anti-tax policies
In addition to DeVos, the Trump administration has hired several people who are connected to The Atlas Network, Mike Pompeo -CIA, Sebation Gorka- neo-nazi presidential advisor. The irony is the Atlas Network has been getting extensive funding from the US government since 1981.
The left has nothing like their money, infrastructure, or long-term strategy to counter their influence. We need to stick together as public educators & continue branding their ideas as toxic.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/11/lee_fang_on_how_a_little
LikeLike
Thanks for those links!
LikeLike