October Guest Speaker – Bear Attacks!

Members and guests enjoyed a presentation on Bear Attacks at the October general meeting.

Todd Ponich, retired Fish and Wildlife Officer and Problem Wildlife Specialist, gave an interesting talk. He spoke about how to best avoid predator encounters, what to do to survive an encounter, and the steps that problem wildlife specialists take to investigate attacks. Todd has instructed Problem Wildife courses to recruit Fish and Wildlife Officers in Western Canada, provided Wildlife Human Attack Response training to 30+ agencies across the US, and investigated many Alberta attack occurrences, both injury and fatality. He spoke about the importance of bear spray to deter aggressive predators, things to do to prevent and survive an attack, and the methods that investigators use to gather evidence and identify the animals involved. His presentation included many photos and videos involving bears as well as cougars. He answered many questions that the audience had. 

We hope everyone went away with a greater understanding of this important topic.