Pepper Spray Used Against a Bear

Pepper spray is useful when used as a self defense weapon or when police use it to break up large and violent crowds when they get out of control. However, many people who carry pepper spray may not know just how useful it really is. There are a number of other uses for pepper spray that were illustrated by a recent incident in Juneau, Alaska.

Residents of Alaska have to contend with a number of large creatures that can be dangerous under the right conditions. Among these are moose and several different types of bear. One of the most dangerous of these creatures is the grizzly bear. Whenever a grizzly bear comes around a tourist or Alaska resident, it can be hard to ward off the animal. However, using pepper spray can often be used to change a bear’s mind after it has decided to cause trouble for the humans it comes into contact with.

Tourists who were visiting a national park in Juneau recently were surprised to see a mother grizzly bear and it cubs on the road to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. The mother bear wasn’t happy to see the tourists and made a popping sound at the tourists with her jaws. The tourists became alarmed at this display and alerted park rangers about the bears.

The rangers responded by using an air horn to try to scare the mother bear away from the tourists. Once confronted by park rangers, the mother bear became angry and lunged at one of the park rangers. Once this occurred, the bear was sprayed with pepper spray to discourage an attack. The bear then left and took her cubs with her. Neither the rangers nor the bears were injured. If pepper spray had not been available to the park rangers, the resulting outcome may not have been as positive.