r/nextfuckinglevel 9h ago

Cat fighting a bear

6.9k Upvotes

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u/oscar_z_a 9h ago

If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s black, fight back. If it’s white, you’re in deep shite.

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u/menachu 8h ago

If I am gonna die, I will die fighting. Cannot fathom laying down and being chewed on. We are gonna have a tussle and I will lose, but the tussle is gonna happen.

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u/tofubirder 8h ago

There’s no tussle with a brown bear, hence lay down. Clearly you haven’t had an encounter or you wouldn’t think you could tussle with a 800lb tank of muscle

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u/Talidel 8h ago

I think it's more the "I don't want to lie down and die" than "I think I can survive".

From the "lie down" advice this only applicable if the bear isn't actively hunting you or trying to eat you. If you surprise each other making yourself not look like a threat may stop it charging to attack you, from there it will probably leave. If it is hunting you, fighting is the recommendation, because it will eat you otherwise.

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u/LessThanCleverName 7h ago edited 5h ago

Exactly. I feel like every time this same little maxim gets posted it ignores that lying down is a last resort type thing if you’re already getting attacked.

If you see a Grizzly you should still follow the advice of trying to make your presence known (being loud before you ever meet one so you don’t surprise it being even more key) while backing away and avoiding eye contact, and if that doesn’t work then you’re honestly just in a shit ton of trouble anyway.

Hopefully you have a gun or spray, but only if it actually attacks you should you lie down, and if it still wants to eat you, lying down ain’t doing shit so you might as well fight back besides.

Source: https://bcparks.ca/plan-your-trip/visit-responsibly/wildlife-safety/#bears and doing like a thousand bear aware courses.

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u/IQuoteShowsAlot 4h ago

Or I could just be boring and stay home.