Woodland Park Zoo’s Bear Affair & Big Howl for Wolves

It was a sunny,warm day with people standing shoulder to shoulder anxiously waiting to see what  antics the two grizzly bears would do next as they ripped apart a tent, sleeping bag and cooler in search of food in the mock campsite set up.

Chris Morgan of GBOP says there are possibly only 20 grizzly bears left in the North Cascades. People seem to be less concerned about setting up safe camps in the Cascades because grizzly bears are rarely encountered but the 25,000 black bears in Washington are animals to be respected and smart around when camping.

Morgan says “when you’re in the backcountry you want to hang your food cache as high as you can, as far away from your tent as you can.”  That’s at least 100 yards away from your campsite and 15 feet off the ground. Use bear resistant containers and never leave anything smelly inside your tent.