The good news for the adventurer is that habituated animals are rarely
found in remote areas.
You can prevent encounters with accidental predators by taking
these steps:
Make your presence known.
When you’re traveling in an area where you know there are accidental predators,
be as noisy as possible. Sing, yell, blow a whistle, wear a bear bell . . . anything
that will inform animals of your presence. If they hear you, chances are they’ll
take off. Early in my days of survival training, I had to walk alone in a remote
area of northern Ontario. I knew the area was thick with black bears (there was
bear scat everywhere), so I simply played my harmonica as I walked along. It gave
me comfort on a number of levels.
Keep your camp area clean and free of excessive food smells.
If you come upon a freshly killed animal in grizzly territory, give it a wide berth.
Grizzlies will often wander some distance from their kill, but you can be sure
they sense when something else is getting close to it.
Don’t travel alone through the territory of large predators if you don’t have to.There are as many strategies for dealing with large animals as there
are animals themselves. What works in an encounter with a puma may
not work with a grizzly bear. However, in general terms, here’s what you
should do if you happen upon an accidental predator:
Don’t panic! Turning and running may well incite an instinctive predatorial
response in the animal, since you are telling it that you are prey. So if it
wasn’t interested in you at first, it sure is now!
Calmly and deliberately move away from the animal. Do not make jerky
movements, which may startle it. Keep facing it, but do not look it in the eye.
Some animals may interpret eye contact as a challenge. (An exception to this rule
is sharks, which will take much longer to attack if you keep your eyes on them.)
Make yourself seem as big and threatening as possible by waving your arms
over your head, making lots of noise, or joining arms with your travel mates.
Remember that you are the visitor! No matter how intent you were on heading
in a certain direction, taking a certain path, or making camp in a certain spot,
move elsewhere! Dangers and Hazards (^) | 255