I just went thorugh a campus safety seminar given by a Detroit PD officer who is the training officer for our campus precinct, and he told us that part of his training was getting gassed with the pepper spray- which is a mix of Capsaicin (pepper inflamatory agent) and CN (lacrimating agent)- and learning how to fight through it. Even though the pepper is supposed to temporarily blind and make breathing difficult by inflaming capillaries, the officer learns to fight on. In other words, spray might *discourage* a bear, but it won't stop him or her. About this: > Melissa wrote : > >>>In general, I don't like even the idea of me owning/carrying a gun > (and I certainly don't like the idea of having to shoot such cute and > cuddly looking bears!), Oddly enough, they don't have similar problems having to eat a cute and cuddly paddler. Me, I don't want to shoot a bear either, so I avoid them. Here in Michigan we have black bears, and I've always been told that black bears never attack humans, and if they do, it's a bluff. I used to believe that, too ;-) -- mike -------------------------- Michael Edelman http://foldingkayaks.org http://findascope.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/ ***************************************************************************
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