Like a lot of people, he had a system for dealing with a dangerous situation which worked for him, until it didn't. How often have you heard someone respond to some safety advise by saying "I've been doing it this way for years and never had any problem." Sounds like Mr Treadwell thought he had it all figured out. The problem with his system for bear safety is it doesn't sound like it gave him much leeway in case he was wrong. Even if Mr Treadwell were correct that bears aren't "dangerous", they are at a minimum "potentially dangerous". Big teeth and sharp claws at least suggests a potential danger. If you are going to pet a bear, you really should have a plan for if "potentially" turns into "actually". And if you can't think of a plan, maybe your original system isn't as good as you thought. This is something to consider about any safety system: What is the consequence if your safety system is not as good as you think it is. Do you have a fall back system, and possibly another. Many of us will choose to "pet the bear" in some way when we are out kayaking, are we really as prepared for the consequences of a failure in our system as we think? On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 10:41 AM, Joyce, Thomas F. wrote: > One of the newspaper reports I read made him sound like a crackpot. If > it is accurate, he anthropomorphized the bears and tried to befriend > them. According to the article, he "slept near them and crawled into > their dens when they were off fishing for salmon." Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Oct 08 2003 - 08:53:55 PDT
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