A North Carolina man took a creative and goofy approach to bear deterrence —stepping out of his house in a bear suit to spook away a black bear that had plunked down on his lawn.
It worked for Rodney Clark of Asheville, North Carolina, as evidenced by media interviews and a video making the rounds on news outlets and social media.
However, some Wyomingites said trying that tactic on a grizzly bear would probably get a person mauled, possibly killed — or perhaps even worse — molested by the bear.
Eastern Bears Bigger, But More Mellow
The Eastern U.S. has plentiful black bears. Because they eat so well, they can be huge, sometimes even bigger than Western grizzlies.
However, their relatively easy living has also left them docile, at least compared to bears in Wyoming.
That appears to be the case of the bear in the video, which is chilling on a lawn as the man steps out in a bear suit, which looks like it could be a sports team mascot costume.
As the man in the suit approaches the actual bear, the animal looks perplexed for a moment, before jumping up and running for a short distance.
In a second encounter caught on video, the bear suit proves to be too much, as the bear pauses near a wooden fence and looks back for a moment. Then it scrambles under the fence’s lower rail and scampers away.
A message left for Clark wasn’t answered by publication time for this story.
In an interview with “Inside Edition,” he said that the bear costume has proven effective in pushing bears off his property.
He told “Inside Edition” that bears sometimes “stop and pause and look back. They’re not really sure what that is.”
That proves to finally be too much for the bear, which scrambles under the fence’s lower rail and scampers out of sight.
Funny, But Not A Good Wyoming Option
Wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven has spent countless hours in the field with Wyoming’s wildlife, and has been charged by animals like bears and moose a time or two.
He told Cowboy State Daily that he admires the creativity of Clark’s approach to bear deterrence but doesn’t recommend it for Wyoming.
“That's funny to watch, but I personally wouldn't try it on a grizzly bear,”Vangoidtsenhoven said. “They're not territorial, neither are black bears, but if the grizzly decides to stand its ground, you're in a lot of trouble.
“The same can be said about the black bear, but grizzlies are more confrontational, in my experience.”
What If The Bear Falls In Love?
Northeast Wyoming resident Owen Miller, an experienced bear hunter, agreed that using a bear costume to try scaring bears here wouldn’t be a good idea.
Aside from the risk of getting mauled, there’s another — perhaps even worse —possibility of how things could go wrong, Miller told Cowboy State Daily.
“Just don’t try it during mating season, unless you can outrun a bear,” he said.
Noted Wyoming outdoorsman Paul Ulrich concurred.
“I would not recommend trying that in a grizzly suit in Wyoming,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Black bears are naturally reclusive and tend to shy away. But grizzlies tend to have a totally different reaction.
“You could get mauled or killed. Or, depending upon the time of year, buggered. It’s probably not a good idea.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
