Woman killed by Black Bear in Oilsands camp

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

Not sure if it was a factor in this case, but when out in the wilderness, females need to be extra cautious when they are on their...period. Bears and other wildlife are highly attracted to the smell of the blood.

I thought that was an old wisetail

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wil...t-bear-attacks

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

nope, I got it correct.



http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=70412

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=59833

I am not sure why he hides, I am sure the mods know.

He doesn't hide, and the mods do know. You did hide though when you were a returning user. Sliver hates dogs and bears, let it go.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I thought that was an old wisetail

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wil...t-bear-attacks

Get off your pedal stool!

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Suncor has been in the news I think 3 times in the last little while because of on-site fatalities. Not good.

That facility has averaged a fatal about every other year since their inception as Great Canadian Oil Sands.

[Sliver]

Holy crap, what a horrific nightmare. Poor girl. Maybe a culling up there isn't such a bad idea. I don't understand what bears add to the ecosystem and they are incredibly dangerous.

[GP_Matt]

No they aren't.
We had at least 5 bear sightings yesterday and will continue to work alongside bears all summer without incident.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Holy crap, what a horrific nightmare. Poor girl. Maybe a culling up there isn't such a bad idea. I don't understand what humans add to the ecosystem and they are incredibly dangerous.

fyp

Another classic, well done.

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Maybe a culling up there isn't such a bad idea. I don't understand what bears add to the ecosystem and they are incredibly dangerous.

NSFW!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Holy crap, what a horrific nightmare. Poor girl. Maybe a culling up there isn't such a bad idea. I don't understand what bears add to the ecosystem and they are incredibly dangerous.

Bears are not incredibly dangerous. Bears eat plants and berries, bear scat distrutes these seeds thoughout the area allowing for more plants and berries to go.

I go out to these sites about once a month to walk down pipelines and seeing a blackbear is not an uncommon occurance. Over the summer I will see a bear on about half my trips. I am interested to see how this investigation goes as I hope it leads to better practices that can prevent incidents. Better food and garbage handling might help, I am not sure what Suncor's in particular are. Especially the dump sites.

Also better education on bear safety. If the worker was working remotely and alone is always having a partner a good idea if out in the bush during summer. Is bear spray and appropriate training a good option for out of plant work.

Bears aren't the problem though, bears were there first, we can easily work with them and still extract oil from the ground.

Also we can always remember that driving a car is significantly more dangerous than anything else we ever do. So if you drive a car being afraid of bears doesn't make sense.

[Jets4Life]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

No they aren't.
We had at least 5 bear sightings yesterday and will continue to work alongside bears all summer without incident.

Are they mainly Grizzlies up there?

The only time I've come in close contact with a bear, was when i worked at the Lloydminster branch for a week, and we encountered an adolescent male Black Bear 50-100m away. It took no interest in us, and continued on it's way along the valley of the North Saskatchewan River.

I would assume even for people who do work in remote areas in the bush, the chances of being killed by a Bear is as likely as winning the lottery.

[GP_Matt]

We see a surprising amount of grizzly bears south of Fox Creek. And a ton if you head deeper into the hills south of Grande Prairie.
One of the FSJ crews had a grizzly bear steal his lunch while another distracted him, but otherwise, no issues.

[troutman]

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/mtn/ou...i-grizzly.aspx

The current estimate of the grizzly bear population on provincial lands in Alberta is 691, and up to 16,000 in British Columbia. Within the four contiguous Rocky Mountain national parks, population estimates are:

• Banff National Park: 65
• Jasper National Park: 109
• Yoho National Park: 11-15
• Kootenay National Park: 9-16

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/mtn/ou...lack-bear.aspx

A very general population estimate suggests there may be up to 600,000 black bears in North America and more than 380,000 in Canada. Due to their relatively robust numbers, black bears are not a Species at Risk in Canada.

Within the four contiguous Rocky Mountain national parks, population estimates are:

• Banff National Park: 20-40
• Jasper National Park: 90
• Yoho National Park: 20-50
• Kootenay National Park: 30-50

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...ests-1.1344912

The province's grizzly bear monitoring project has shown there are more bears in southwestern Alberta than previously thought.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

Are they mainly Grizzlies up there?

The only time I've come in close contact with a bear, was when i worked at the Lloydminster branch for a week, and we encountered an adolescent male Black Bear 50-100m away. It took no interest in us, and continued on it's way along the valley of the North Saskatchewan River.

I would assume even for people who do work in remote areas in the bush, the chances of being killed by a Bear is as likely as winning the lottery.

zero grizzlies up there.

[Jets4Life]

Originally Posted by habernac

zero grizzlies up there.

I was referring to the Grande Prairie area.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

That facility has averaged a fatal about every other year since their inception as Great Canadian Oil Sands.

Trending up? Or a few anomalous outliers?

Either way, all the workplace deaths are very tragic.

[skudr248]

I work up at Kearl as well as the other poster and yeah black bears here are everywhere, I see them weekly when driving to and from the site and camp. Apparently the bear singled out the woman, real bad situation regardless. Funny reading comments on the Herald and sun, some people are just straight ######ed

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by GGG

Also we can always remember that driving a car is significantly more dangerous than anything else we ever do. So if you drive a car being afraid of bears doesn't make sense.

Ok how about you walk alone in Kananaskis forests for 12 hours and I'll drive to Vancouver and will see who is more "afraid".

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Ok how about you walk alone in Kananaskis forests for 12 hours and I'll drive to Vancouver and will see who is more "afraid".

That depends. Are you talking about rational or irrational fear? If it's the latter then you nailed it.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by peter12

I was bluff charged by a black bear in the field last year. I bet it was a problem bear feeding on improperly disposed garbage around the site. Bear finds a food source, bear becomes territorial, bear eliminates threat.

Bears are stupid at this time of year when they come out of hibernation. They are starving and all they can think of is fueling up.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Holy crap, what a horrific nightmare. Poor girl. Maybe a culling up there isn't such a bad idea. I don't understand what bears add to the ecosystem and they are incredibly dangerous.

Stop reminding people you're Dess.

And if you honestly don't know the answer to that, do some research before throwing out (again) such a borderline ######ed idea.

God dammit, nevermind. Apologies for being lazy but a link will sum it up much better then I ever could.

Grizzly bears play an important role in forest ecosystems as seed dispersers and nutrient providers. Berry seeds pass through the bear unbroken and are able to geminate. Not only that, but they come with their own pile of fresh manure as fertilizer.

While foraging for tree roots, plant bulbs, or ground squirrels, bears stir up the soil, increasing species richness and nitrogen availability in alpine ecosystems. Grizzlies increase the amount of available nitrogen through soil disturbance and through salmon carcass dispersal.

Grizzlies also directly regulate prey populations and help prevent ungulate overgrazing. Studies show that the removal of wolves and grizzly bears in Grand Teton National Park caused populations of their herbivorous prey to increase, which decreased the density of plants in the area. The decrease of plant density led to a decrease in the population sizes of migratory birds. Grizzly bears, like all carnivores, are keystone predators, having a major influence on their ecosystems.

http://westernwildlife.org/grizzly-b...logy-behavior/

This is kids stuff.