Bears

I have never seen a grizzly bear in the wild, but getting close to one in Calgary Zoo was not a problem. The glass viewing areas made it possible to make a few images of both types of bears.

The grizzly bear was wandering around its enclosure when stopped and looked directly at me. I saw the length of its claws and made a photograph of them - they could do a lot of damage I bet. A large black bear was hanging out near the glass viewing area in its enclosure and I was able to make a few images of that bear as well.

Seeing these bears made me realize how dangerous it would be to walk into one while hiking. The long claws of the grizzly helped reinforce that idea. Fortunately, where I hike here on the Avalon Peninsula, there are no grizzlies and black bears are fairly rare.

Several years ago, while hiking in Central Newfoundland, my nephew and I saw a black bear crossing the same large bog we were crossing. There was nowhere to hide so we stayed very quiet until the bear disappeared into the forest. We waited a while to make sure the bear was gone, After several minutes, we proceeded along our bearing, which took us in a different direction than the bear. We didn't see it again.