For the past month we have a had a problem with a bear coming in and out of camp. He would come in for a couple of days and then disappear for two or three days. He always seemed to disappear when the rangers came up to try and catch him. This time he was not so lucky, or maybe he was. The rangers came up and set snares to try and and catch him. When I say snares, I am talking about a cable that wraps around his foot. It does not hurt the bear in any way. It simply keeps him in one location so the ranger can dart him. The next step is to dart him with a tranquilizer so he will be under for a few hours. The ranger then proceeds to pull a tooth, tag him, weigh him, and several other procedures. The idea is to give the bear a horrible experience so it does not like people. When the bear wakes up from this ordeal it will want to stay as far away from us as possible. Hopefully, it will help save a bears life. To finish the story, the bear fell for the bait and was caught in the snare. While the ranger was getting the dart ready, the bear got loose. The ranger who caught him has been working with bears for over 22 years. He said in all his years he has never had a bear get out of one of the snares. We knew this bear was smart. So, the saga continues. We are hoping it was such a devastating experience that he will disappear and move on to another mountain top. I will keep you posted.
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