On 15 Apr 2004 12:09:21 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

~
~In article ,
(jane) writes:
~|
~| ~| ~Hell, the Californians are scared of bobcats! Ignore 90% of their
~| ~| ~phobias.
~| ~|
~| ~| :-) I didn't ignore the one that said don't leave food in the car in
~| ~| Yosemite though... bears *will* open them like a foodcan if you do!
~| ~
~| ~Hmm. A grizzly bear's claws are strong, but I rather doubt that
~| ~they would claw through even the flimsy steel that most cars are
~| ~made of. When I was there (25 years ago), the warning was about
~| ~softtops; I can believe that they have learnt to break windows,
~| ~but have serious difficulty in believing that they tear open car
~| ~boots.
~|
~| I suspect most damage is indeed done by claws on the bodywork - makes
~| keying look tame, though they will break windows. I have seen one
~| photo of a car torn to bits, but it was while I was out there in '94
~| (They put them up in the shop to stop folk leaving food out)
~
~Torn to bits? That is even less plausible. Sorry. Elephants do
~that, but not bears.

Then someone must have 'helped' it.

~Both pages support my statement - the pictures were all of broken
~windows etc., and so were the textual references. The reference to
~a boot was only that bears could smell food inside it. Yes, I know
~that the second page said "Picture a large can that's been opened
~using a knife and a crowbar", but that is hyperbole.

Maybe the rangers make the damage worse than it actually is, to
deliberately scare people. Either way, I did see a photo of severe
damage attributed to bears. Maybe the reviewer did too. Maybe it was a
scare-tactics fake, but I could not say either way, just report on
what I saw.

~| Ho hum. Least we aren't in danger of getting *those* in our gardens!
~
~It's rather sad, really. Take a random Web page:
~
~http://www.nps.gov/yose/news/1998/traffic.htm
~
~August 19, 1998. ... There have been 12 major accidents, including
~one fatal crash, on the Tioga Pass Road since it opened on July 1.
~
~The fuss made about bears is at least ten times that made about
~motor vehicles, and they are at least ten times less dangerous.
~And that is in Yosemite!

Not going to argue there. I think the fuss is to show people that what
*they* do could get an innocent bear killed in extremis, and not just
another human being.
When we learn to drive, how many of us are told that what we are doing
is more of a killer than any gun?

~People in the USA and UK are hysterical about the dangers caused
~by wild animals.

Man is still the wildest animal.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!