CAMPFIRE
- Carl Hanner e-mail
Tip o' the Day
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June 4, 2006 - Lautersee: At night the bear kills three sheep on the pasture next to the lake. He chases two rams about 500 meters leaving tracks a meter away from a kiosk at the lake shore.
June 5, 2006 - Leutasch: During the night the bear breaks into a rabbit cage located between apartment houses. One rabbit partly eaten, the other missing. The police investigate the damage at 11:00p, but believe it is a nasty joke. However, our own site investigation confirms the bear presence and bear hairs can be secured from the rabbit cage.
June 6, 2006 - road between Leutasch and Scharnitz: - At 3:00a two young guys drive around hoping to see the bear; they actually succeed. The police do not believe them. The Emergency Team is informed by journalists in the afternoon and finds bear tracks at the observation site.
June 7,2006 - Solsteinhutte: The cabin manager observes the bear at the fence. Her husband checks his wife's observation and finds bear tracks in the snow. (This event was not investigated by the Emergency Team, but pictures of the bear tracks next to the fence were published in the daily newspaper "Neue Zeitung".)
June 8, 2006 - Hunters want to take the bear capture into their own hands, via a press conference in Innsbruck. The plan is to spot the bear, then drop a veterinarian in by helicopter close to the bear. No bear signs are reported this evening.
June 9, 2006 - A decision was rendered to employ the Finnish Bear Emergency Team with their specialized bear dogs.
Several editorial offices get an e-mail with a photograph showing a bear at the edge of a forest claiming it was taken last night at Schlickeralm. It turns out to be a faked picture. A jogger watches a bear killing a young hare on a trail between Roppen and Sautens. The examination of the site in the afternoon yields no bear signs (as it turns out later, the bear is in the Karwendel Mountains at this time). Sheep have escaped from a pasture, the grass of a meadow is trampled down in several places, and a big scat is reported. No bear signs can be found during the site inspection and the big scat is sheep shit.
June 10, 2006 - Munich airport: Arrival of four Finnish bear hunters and five dogs (Swedish and Norwegian elk dogs). Transfer to Innsbruck. Walder Alm: Hikers find a big footprint. They send photo by MMS -- as it turns out, the track is composed of two overlapping dog tracks. Alpensohnehutte: Hikers report a killed sheep. The damage inspection shows that the sheep likely fell to its death. Foxes have fed on the carcass, which was already a few days old. No bear signs could be found.
June 11, 2006 - Ganalm: At night the bear destroys a rabbit cage in front of an alpine cabin. At 1:00p the Finnish team starts to track the bear for the first time. At 4:00p the tracking is disturbed by a press camera team. At 5:00p the action gets stopped by the provincial government because of a formal complaint by a tenant of the hunting ground.
June 12, 2006 - At 8:00a the capture team finally gets the permission to enter all hunting grounds in Tyrol.
At 11:00a press conference in Scharnitz, the Finnish Bear Emergency Team is officially presented to the press.
June 13, 2006 - Hinterrib - After a German tourist takes photos of the bear crossing a meadow, the emergency team starts from Innsbruck. At the ahornboden, the dogs find bear tracks. However, they are unable to follow the track over a longer distance because of the rugged terrain and the hot weather.
June 14, 2006 - Several observations around Sylvensteinspeichersee. Two dogs released on the track. Later a car accident is reported to the police; a bear had jumped on the road and was hit by the right-hand wing mirror; presumedly the bear was not hurt. One minute later a motorcyclist saw the bear, too. It jumped again on the road, turned around and disappeared downslope to the water. Dogs follow the track to the reservoir.
June 15, 2006 - 11:00a press conference in Mittenwald. At 3:00p an observation of a bear swimming in the river between Wallgau and Vorderrib is reported. The capture team meets the observer who gets more and more uncertain; finally the bear turns out to have been the dog of a tourist lying in the shadow of some bushes at the riverside. Brauneck - Tourists saw a bear walk over the terrace of a lodge. The owner stands in the door and imitates a barking dog to chase the bear away. The owner of the adjacent Bayernhutte finally watches the bear taking a "sand bath" on the forest road 50 meters away from the lodge. One hour later the capture team is on the ground and an off-the-leash dog is following the track of the bear. The dog's path is permanently monitored by a real-time GPS unit.
June 16, 2006 - At around 1:00a the dog is presumedly at the bear; the GPS transmitter mounted on the back of the dog shows that the dog is staying at one place. The capture team is about 600 meters away waiting for the first light. A thunderstorm comes up and forces the team to seek shelter in a woodshed. At 4:30a the team starts out again, but the dog has already lost the bear. Searching for new tracks, the team finds a sheep killed and partly eaten by the bear. At 8:00a the action is stopped.
11:00a press conference at Lenggries. Kochel - A man walking two dogs in Lainbach observes the bear on a road at a distance of 20 meters. Cornered by a fence the bear jumps 7 feet up to the rim of a rock wall and escapes into the forest. An hour later the capture team finds bear footprints, but it's raining heavily and the dogs lose the track.
June 17, 2006 - Kochel: At 12:30a a man enters the balcony of a cafe in town and watches the bear sitting in front of the police station. Twenty minutes later the capture team finds some tracks. Again the dogs are unable to stay on the bear track, this time due to too much distractions in a town environment.
11:00a press conference in Lenggries. At ll:30p a herd of cows break through the fence of their corral. The site examination yields no proof for the presumed bear attack. Sheep in a nearby meadow were untouched.
June 18, 2006 - 11:00a press conference in Kochel. A fifth bear hunter from Finland arrives with his dog to reinforce the capture team.
June 19, 2006 - Schildenstein: A hiker observes the bear climbing a ridge to the summit. The capture team finds bear signs but on the rocks the dog soon loses the track.
11:00a press conference in Kochel.
June 20, 2006 - 11:00a press conference in Kreuth.
June 21, 2006 - Kaiserhaus: A new damage reported; the bear killed seven chickens and one sheep and knocked over a garbage container. He also visited two beehives nearby. Lots of tracks and hair can be found. During the day, a dog tracks down and corners the bear twice. The bear always manages to escape before the vet and the hunters can approach.
11:00a press conference in Kreuth. At 8:00p the action is cancelled. One dog still missing. The GPS surveillance does not work in the steep valley.
June 23, 2006 - Ascherdorf: Bear spotted chasing sheep close to a house. The bear runs away. The conditions are perfect but the dogs are too exhausted to track the bear over an extended distance. The Finnish bear hunters all decide to return home. The dogs need to recover and cannot work the next two days. The capture efforts end.
June 24, 2006 - 11:00a press conference of the Bavarian Ministry of Environment and Landesrat Steixner in Kufstein. Grobtiefenthalalm: The bear is spotted in a bog. He approaches the mountain cabin but is seen by young cattle that make front against the bear. He moves away and changes direction towards a flock of sheep at the base of the Rotwand. He disperses the 26 sheep and kills one. Several observers approach the feeding bear. The observers shoot about 20 slides (which are immediately sold to the newspaper BILD).
June 25, 2006 - At 8:30p, the bear walks along a lodge at a distance of a few meters. Late in the evening the bear is observed in the vicinity of a hut. The bear has killed another sheep. Young cattle repeatedly drive the bear away from the carcass.... At night a special team authorized by the district office of Miesbach arrives at the hut.
June 26, 2006 - Kumpflalm: At 4:50a the bear is killed with two shots from the hut at a distance of 150 meters.
1:00p press conference in Schliersee.
Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:
