Alert Issued, Warning of a Bear on Campus
The University of Montana emailed students an alert this morning to warn of a bear on campus. The UM Police Department says they got a crime report of a bear encounter that happened on campus at about 1 o'clock this morning. The report was of a small black bear digging in garbage on the east side of Aber Hall, apparently it ran towards the Social Science Building and was not aggressive.
UMPD encourages people as they start their daily activities to be “Bear Aware”. Please call UMPD at (406) 243-4000 in the event you encounter a bear. Below are some safety tips for bear encounters, as provided by the U of M in this morning's email alert.
- Bears that are agitated may appear to be non-threatening or passive at first.
- Bears that are agitated may snap or pop their jaws and make a woofing sound.
- Do not run. This may incite a predatory chase response.
- Continue to face the bear and back away slowly, talking calmly to identify yourself as a human.
- If the bear continues to approach, try to scare it away by making yourself as large and imposing as possible by stretching your arms overhead and making loud noises.
You can find more educational information about bears and bear encounters by visiting the US Forest Service “Be Bear Aware” webpage.
You'll remember we reported a small black bear on campus and Sacajawea Park in late September, a listener also spotted the little guy munching garbage at Kiwanis and sent a photo. I say "little guy" like awwww cute, but I definitely wouldn't try to hug the dude.