A housekeeper was blasted in the face with a can of bear spray after she accidentally ran it over with her cart in the hallway of the downtown Marriott in Salt Lake City. She was taken to the hospital unable to open her eyes, and the hotel was evacuated and ventilated and then guests were allowed back in a half-hour later. I suspect that guests on the bear-spray-affected floor took a bit longer enjoying the afternoon before returning to the scene. How did the bear spray end up on the floor of the Marriott? Police aren’t saying, but hey, if your plans change and you stay in the Marriott instead camping, that can of bear spray isn’t going to be of much use; may as well just toss it in the hallway.

A police officer in an Alaska town called Soldotna responded to a call of a large brown bear in what’s described as a ‘busy residential area.’ What passes for a busy residential area in Alaska is up for debate, but it sounds like there was at least one house and one road. He lost sight of the bear and hopped out of his car with a shotgun to continue on foot. He saw the bear about 25 yards away and for some reason he moved closer. The bear noticed him when he was 14 yards away and turned and charged right at the cop. The officer shot at the charging animal and killed it.

The AK newspaper presented the tale as one of heroism on the cop’s part, but I have to ask what the guy was doing poking around so close to a huge bear? Why not stay farther away and try to scare it out of this city center of this teeming metropolis of Soldotna with your car horn or siren?

via Outdoor Pressroom

Authorities in Yellowstone have trapped a 420-pound grizzly at the site of the fatal mauling of a man from Michigan. It was the second fatal mauling in Yellowstone, though the first bear was allowed to survive since rangers determined it was a defensive attack. The recently trapped bear has had hair samples taken and then it was fixed with a radio collar and released. A lab is running the DNA and comparing it to grizzly hair found on the scene of the mauling. If there’s a match, they’ll use the radio collar to find the bear and kill it. It’s a smart solution; otherwise they just kill the animal and never really know if they caught the right one.

Alaskan hero Brooke Collins saw a black bear in her Juneau neighborhood walking around carrying her dachshund Fudge “like a salmon.” Before common sense could take over the young woman charged out of her house and slugged the bear right in the nose. Brooke’s boyfriend heard her screaming and ran to find her. When he arrived on scene he saw the bear scampering away and her running back to the house after grabbing the small dog, though I’m sure he’ll tell the story differently later at the bar.

Photo by Traveler100

A bear plowed through a tent at a campground near Aspen and then ransacked the campsite prompting officials to close the campground. Luckily no one was in the tent at the time. The campground is sold out for the next week, likely because it’s right alongside the course for a big upcoming bike race. They’ll be piling the people into the hotel rooms. Though you can’t really get too mad at people when you make reservations at a place called Difficult Campground.