Avoid wildlife conflicts – for your sake and theirs

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

By Grace Hammond

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-In a cozy little corner of Yellowstone National Park’s website is a video section. Here, tourists share home footage of the most intimate, memorable parts of their Western vacations – like when Uncle Bob was gored by a buffalo.
There’s no quicker route to the American psyche then on the backs of Wyoming’s wild animals. Bison, once reviled, are now revered as compact car-sized metaphors for the Old West. The moose, arguably wilder and similarly powerful, remains a cartoon Bullwinkle in many minds, a cute, ’50s-era, neutered dimwit about as threatening as a teddy bear.

The park website’s attack videos, however, serve to jar loose public naiveté about wildlife. They demonstrate to us something we might not want to admit: Wild animals, no matter how romanticized or caricaturized, don’t always play by our rules.
Bear season (and, oh, what a season it was) is coming to a close. Bruins are on their way off to bed, shoving Old Man Winter to the floor in his stocking feet. On his heels come the “big three” – migrating bison, moose and elk – lumbering toward a neighborhood near you.

Making moose move
“Winter is moose season,” said Mark Gocke, the public information specialist at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “That’s what we see the most.”
Top-heavy, spindly-legged moose “can be really cantankerous,” he said, especially in the late winter months when they are exhausted and stressed from navigating deep snow. Plowed or sheltered areas, like yards and driveways, provide a welcome respite and can seem to them like the Promised Land – especially if there are aspens, willows or shrubs onsite.

If a moose parks next to your car or front door, give it time to move away at a slow pace so it can conserve precious calories. If it lingers, bang pots and pans together or run a small engine – like a snowmobile or chainsaw – to startle it away. Do this several days in a row if you have to, and it may stop coming back. If you must pass by, keep something solid – a tree, a car – between you and the animal whenever possible. Finally, squirt pepper spray in the moose’s direction if you must force it to move in a hurry.

A threatened moose will lay lower its head, lay its ears back (like a dog or cat), stomp at the ground, or lick its lips. The hairs on its hump may stand up. Running won’t trigger non-predatory animals to chase you – that’s pretty much anything other than bears or mountain lions in our area – so if a moose heads your way, run for shelter or bolt behind a tree for a game of “ring-around-the-rosy” that you will likely win. Most charges are bluffs, but if a moose engages you, kicking from all directions, curl up into a ball and protect your head with your arms.
“If an animal does strike, most will engage until they feel the threat is gone,” Gocke said. “You’ll be bit once, kicked once, swatted once, and if you lie still, it will leave. You generally want to just lie there until you’re positive it’s gone.”

Give wide berth to bison
While bears loom large in the American mind, scaring the bejeezus out of little children from Goldilocks forward, in fact, “there have been more injuries by bison in Yellowstone than by bears – period – black or grizzly,” said Jackie Skaggs, the spokesperson for GTNP.

Bison look slow as molasses, but they can whip around at breakneck speed and outrun “all but the fleetest horse,” according to the YNP website. They are unpredictable and may “attack anything, often without warning or apparent reason.”
Bison have tossed or gored camera-happy tourists and even unsuspecting visitors who stumbled upon them in the dark at places like Lake Lodge, said Skaggs. Game and Fish has seen some conflicts in subdivisions north of town, including by the airport and in Kelly, in recent years. The unprecedented swell of bison in the herd means they’re more spread out and cropping up in residential areas.

Hazing a bison is like throwing pebbles at a T-Rex. They don’t really respond to loud noises or annoyances like a moose might, Gocke said. Darting them is impractical for his department: You’d be better off moving a subdivision than trying to relocate a tranquilized, 2000-pound animal.

The best way, perhaps the only way, to ensure your safety is to a give bison wide berth. Never approach closely, particularly with a camera; to animals, this resembles an aggressive, staring eyeball. Keep your (real) eyes on the animal, and if it heads toward you, “I would run,” Gocke said. “Anything to put distance between you.”

If you encounter bison while on a bike, “use a passing car as a shield or turn and go the other way,” Skaggs advised. Bison have attacked cars and bicycles in the past.
Both male and female bison can gore you with their horns, and a bison’s head can be used as a lethal battering ram. Beware a bison with a lowered head and raised tail that snorts and paws the ground. Remember: Bear spray works on anything with eyes and a nose – use it to defend yourself.

View the attack videos, which include bison and elk charges (elk conflicts are uncommon, but do occur from time to time) at
 http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/safetyvideos.htm. After watching, you might agree with Gocke: “Bison really do put up with a lot, when you think about it.” A little less idiocy could have prevented most, if not all, of the incidents.

Highway habitat
It’s sad to say that the closest you’ll most likely get to a wild animal is after you’ve hit it with your car. Colliding with a moose, elk or deer – the most common victims in the area – can be fatal for both parties.

There’s a reason wildlife sticks close to roads in the winter. Roads appear as clearings in natural vegetation that provide unobstructed paths from one foraging area to the next.  Expect to see migrating animals throughout the winter, and be particularly vigilant at dawn, dusk and during snow storms.

Moose are commonly found along the Village Road and on either side of the Teton Pass. When hit, their lanky legs break and give out, and their massive body can torpedo through the windshield or crush parts of the car. Moose can be extremely difficult to spot on the road. They are often so tall that headlights don’t reach their eyes, so no telltale gleam alerts you to their presence in the dark.

Last year, 236 elk, moose and deer were killed to date, compared to 146 this year, said Melissa Harrison at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, which maintains local roadkill statistics. “One thing I can tell you for sure is that when we have a lot of snow, we have a lot more roadkill,” Harrison said. In January 2006, a heavy snow year, 65 animals were killed. In January 2007, a mild month for snow, 25 died.

In big snow years, Harrison explained, animals wander onto the road and get trapped there by snowbanks on either side. Be patient, and let them move off the road at their own pace.

Speed is also a contributing factor in most accidents. Slow down to give yourself a few extra seconds of reaction time. “The speed limits posted are for optimum conditions,” said Harrison. “Snow and ice are not optimum.”

Other tips
It’s important to know when to contact the Game and Fish Department. “The earlier you call us, the more options we have,” Gocke said. “Any time an animal’s behavior triggers a red flag in your mind, or it’s acting in an unnatural way, get in touch.” Better to call sooner than later – relocation is ideal for animals on the cusp of habituation.

Controlling your dogs is an important piece of the puzzle. Dogs can agitate wildlife and bring them back to you, or give chase and induce an animal’s death by exhaustion. Moose will go out of their way to stomp dogs. After all, “What are their primary predators? Wolves and coyotes,” Gocke pointed out.

Be a good steward by removing from your property unnecessary fencing; gangly legs and antlers are easily tangled up in them. Be mindful of hanging hazards like Christmas lights and swing sets.

Respect winter and wildlife road closures. “Winter is the most stressful time of the year for wildlife and conserving energy is critical,” said Harrison. “When you disturb them, they expend calories, and it could mean the differences between life and death.”
In all encounters, “The number one rule of thumb is to create distance between yourself and wildlife,” Gocke said. “Never leave an animal with no options and no escape route.”
Never feed wild animals. It attracts them to dangerous, foreign environments they’re not built for – teeming with cars, dogs and dangerous fences. Animals you feed may congregate in herds near your property, enticing predators like mountain lions to come around, and encouraging the spread of disease and parasites. Finally, animals that consume food outside of their natural diet suffer from digestive problems and sometimes death.

“I think for some reason we inherently want to feed these animals, to help them survive during the winter,” Gocke said. “It’s because people here care and they are passionate about wildlife. But not feeding them is the most respectful thing people can do. Wild animals should stay wild.”

Photo by Mark Gocke
Winter is hard on animals.  Don’t disturb them unless you absolutely have to.

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Avoid wildlife conflicts – for your sake and theirs | Planet JH News Article: General Environment

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