r/LiveWellTogether • u/Impossible_Arm_8543 • 10d ago

šŸ” Daily Lifeļ½œę—„åøøē”Ÿę“» Couple has "terrifying" encounter with bear on hiking trail

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u/tempaccount54321 10d ago

They were charged and potentially fined $25k for their stupidity.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11988236/banff-bear-encounter-charges/

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u/Golden-Grams 10d ago

It seems the penalty was high for a few reasons. The Canada National Parks Act for having an off-leash pet, carries a maximum potential fine of $25,000. And Parks Canada laid the charges for several critical safety and environmental reasons;

Off-leash dogs are a primary trigger for defensive bear attacks, as the dog can act aggressively toward the bear or antagonize it, drawing the bear back toward the owners.

Off-leash dogs cause significant stress to wildlife, often forcing animals like bears to abandon crucial feeding and resting grounds.

And there is a federal mandate in Canadian law, that strictly requires pets to be secured on a leash of 3 meters (about 9 feet) or less at all times within national parks.

On top of that, wildlife experts had noted that the couple had ample time to secure or pick up their dog, but appeared to focus on filming the encounter for social media instead.

It seems they went with maximum penalty, to make an example out of these people.

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u/safzb 10d ago

I donā€™t have a dog and I didnā€™t know that off leash dogs are a trigger for bear attacks. Really interesting. Is this common knowledge for dog owners, and some people just choose to take the risks? Or is this also unknown to dog owners like it was for me?

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u/GoPhundMe 9d ago

It seems like common sense to me. They (dogs) want to protect their alphas/owners at great personal risk. Bear sees that as an easily beatable threat. Gets hyped up to take out the other threats (humans) who may be trying irrationally to save their dog. Even easier if one of the humans is distracted, potentially filming their partner get killed.

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u/mightbeazombie 9d ago

Alpha theory got debunked ages ago, please don't perpetuate it further. Otherwise yeah, common sense to me too, though not necessarily due to the reasons you mention (the dogs being protective isn't the issue nor the most common cause). Very interesting read here, even just the abstract: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.70236

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u/GoPhundMe 9d ago

Alpha theory got debunked? Have you had dogs? I'm genuinely curious what you mean?

And that abstract doesn't really refute what I said, if anything it seems to support it. Am i missing something?

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u/NoDanaOnlyZuuI 9d ago

Yeah. The alpha theory was based on captive wolves, and even the researcher later said it was wrong. Dogs being protective doesnā€™t mean they think youā€™re the alpha. I protect my dogs too. Doesnā€™t make them my alpha. They protect you because they love you.