Lurch is a Bad Bear

When last I left you I was telling you about the McNeil River trip I took in June.  Before I finish that story let me get you up to date on what is going on here in the present at Brooks Camp.  Lurch was reported to have attacked a bear on the valley road and ate him last week.  He has done it again.  This time at Brooks Camp on the closed trail about 50 yards from the gate of the floating bridge.  Not only did he kill and feast on another subadult but buried what he could not finish.  Yesterday, live on the web cam he dragged the remains out of his dug  hole and feasted.  National Parks let nature take its course and this is a part of nature.  One we don't usually get a glimpse of.  None of the staff have been able to ID the subadults.  We will have to wait to see who doesn't appear next year as the last of the staff left Brooks Camp today.  And though this is nature at its most dangerous.  If Lurch were to kill one more time, in human terms he would be considered a serial killer. 

Now if we retrace my steps and go back to McNeil we spent the last day of bear viewing at the famous McNeil falls.  Where in 2011 they counted 72 bears feeding at one time.  I was in total shock when I saw how close we were to sit by the river. Right next to the falls.  I mean right next to the water.  Now we were in there in the middle of June so the salmon had not started their big push yet,  so there were no bears actually fishing yet.  We only spent a few hours getting a look at the place.  Not only do they sit and watch the action from so close but they eat their lunch right there.  That includes eating salmon.  It is amazing to me that humans and bears can live together at such close distances and not get hurt.  Again the leaders of McNeil carry weapons and when asked what they do if there is a territory fight in the river that gets close.  The answer was they throw a chair at the bears to break up the battle.  Crazy!  But it was an amazing place to visit.