BOZEMAN — Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) hosted a bear safety event on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, to teach people what they should do if they encounter a bear.
Luis Bicado moved to Montana six months ago and attended FWP's bear safety event to learn more about the different types of bears in the state and learn how to protect himself by using bear spray.
“I think is really important is to know more about the encounters and stuff like that, I think is really important to be informed,” said Bicado. "That one's really interesting, you know, cause usually we’ll buy the bear spray, and we never use them. So I think it's really good to practice. And also, I think it's a great idea to have one of those empty bear sprays can so you can practice at home."
FWP's Morgan Jacobsen says the turnout for this event was exceptional.
"I think there's just a tremendous interest and thirst for information," said Jacobsen. "This is kind of a unique situation where you get to practice with Bear spray that you don't you don't have easy access to in other places."
The event went over several different aspects of bears like how to handle bear encounters, bear biology, and how bears think and behave.
“The ways that we recommend people avoid those encounters are traveling in groups, making noise, making your presence known, you know, staying away from things like animal carcasses and basically taking steps to make your presence known in the woods so you don't have surprise close encounter," Jacobsen said.
Additional information about how to Be Bear Aware can be found here.
