The bears developed a number of methods for opening bear canisters. Photographs supplied by BearVault<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Before they partnered with the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, the IGBC relied on extra mechanical means to evaluate whether or not one thing was bear resistant or not. They would drop weights on merchandise from a set peak. They additionally used a penetrometer to measure how a lot drive it took to penetrate the wall of a product. But once they switched to testing utilizing dwell bears, they discovered that the variety of passing merchandise shrunk considerably. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe pass rate when we first started testing was only about 10 percent,\u201d says Gravatt. \u201cManufacturers had no idea how strong bears were, how food-driven they were, or how smart they were, and products were failing left and right.\u201d <\/p>\n
The move fee started to extend over time\u2014to as excessive as 60 and even 65 p.c a number of years in the past\u2014however has since dropped right down to lower than 50 p.c. But with backpack canisters it\u2019s even decrease\u2014round 30 p.c. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had canisters that failed in 15 seconds,\u201d says Gravatt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How a Grizzly Becomes a Tester<\/h2>\n Some of the bears come to the middle already nicely versed in learn how to break into containers. A bear named Spirit was relocated 5 instances from Whitefish, Montana, as a result of she saved getting at human meals and was educating her cubs to do the identical. Then there\u2019s four-year-old Bo, who was adept at foraging Yogi-Bear type close to Yellowstone: from coolers, empty tents, and even a pickup truck. But that\u2019s not the norm, says Gravatt.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost all of our bears come to us when they are six, seven, eight months of age, when their mothers were killed or taken from them,\u201d says Gravatt.<\/p>\n
To assist the grizzlies turn into top-notch container testers, Gravatt begins the coaching course of when they’re younger\u2014as early as six months previous. First, the younger cubs would possibly discover a cooler of their enclosure with meals inside: fish, peanut butter, honey, tinned kippers. But as an alternative of being firmly shut with a bear-resistant lock, the cooler shall be held closed by a easy set of zip ties, with one nook left open. The bears shortly study that slightly effort yields a giant reward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do that once a week for two or three months, and before you know it that bear remembers all the food that they\u2019re getting out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Bears Test Bear Cans<\/h2>\n\n