| 1 | The history of bear spray |
The bear spray story started in the late 1970s, with a 7 year old male bear known as Growly who terrorised Montana State National Park for months. Nothing was off limits for this hyperactive bear, as he tore through fences, clawed apart cabins and spooked innocent visitors.
In 1977, Growly was scheduled for execution, but instead, he found himself in a small cement pit in the grounds of the University of Montana. Dr Gary Miller and his team wanted to discover precisely which sounds and sensations a grizzly bear was most spooked by, with the goal of saving human lives and grizzly bear lives in the wild.
Over the next 3 days, Growly was subjected to strobe lights, boat horns, piercing whistles, and firecrackers. All achieved pretty much nothing. The firecrackers and horns sent Growly scampering to the door, but only briefly. The boat horn only managed to stop him in midcharge. Growly even slept through the sound of bear bells, which are still sold to hikers as deterrents today.
As a last ditch hope, Miller sprayed Growly in the face with several irritating substances, including onion juice, windex, mustard, and a dog repellent called Halt. Bingo – the Halt spray caused Growly to flee to the opposite side of the chamber and rub his eyes in discomfort, and a second bear called Sandy reacted almost identically. It was 1977, and the first seeds of the bear spray industry had been planted.
| 2 | The history of bear spray, part 2 |
In the early 1980s, a Montana university student called Carrie Hunt had her thesis due, and chose to study the all new field of bear spray. It was a wise choice: she and a mischievous bear biologist called Chuck Jonkel ended up being pivotal figures in creating the modern capsaicin recipe, and discovering the optimal ratios of ingredients. The first prototype wasn’t amazing: its stream was pencil thin, and the threatened hiker had to be within 6 feet of the charging bear.
By 1982 though, a Vietnam veteran called Bill Pounds had heard about Hunt’s studies, and suggested a megaphone-shaped funnel, to allow a wider distribution of gas in front of the charging bear. He also gave ideas for longer bear spray distance and duration, probably aided by his experiences in the war. Pounds went on to found Outdoor Assault, the very first bear spray company.
In 1989, Hunt and Jonkel contacted Chris Servheen, a national grizzly bear recovery co-ordinator, who was interested enough to commence official government research. Afterwards, the EPA laid down the first official regulations for bear spray, including a minimum spray distance of 25 feet, a minimum weight of 7.9 ounces or more, a short-cloud pattern of spray, and a spray distance of at least 6 feet.
| 3 | What are the instructions? |
Firstly, bear spray pros strongly recommend against storing the can in your backpack. When an angry mother bear is charging from the woods, convinced that you’re out to eat her cubs, unzipping and rummaging will feel like a 10 hour job. If you’re biking, then don’t be tempted by the water-bottle holder, in case you get separated from the bike.
The standard Counter Assault canister costs $65 and includes a belt holster, a training can to practise your aim with, and the 10.2 inch can itself. The Frontierman spray by Sabre costs $40, and includes a chest and belt holster. As you venture deeper and deeper into bear country, always make sure that the safety button is off, just like with a gun. In the Counter Assault and Sabre brands, this is a white button at the top.
Finally, we have the tricky part: the bear itself. The average bear spray travels 25 to 35 feet, so this is the happy zone for getting trigger happy. The recommended form is one hand on the can and one hand on the trigger. Don’t get tempted to try backflips! Style points won’t do you any good in bear country. Keep it simple – aim for the bear’s face, and don’t fire too early. Watch out for upward recoil.
As the bear dashes off in pain, make sure to leave the area, because sprayed bears have been known to return, even if they usually don’t. These are the tips from bear-spray professionals.
| 4 | Easily beats guns in studies |
Tom Smith and Stephen Herrero are two of America’s most prominent bear experts, and in 2008 and 2012, they solidified the fledgling reputation of bear spray for good. Firstly, they examined 83 bear encounters in Alaska from 1985 to 2006, involving 156 people.
They found that 98% of hikers using bear spray escaped with no injuries, and that injuries among the rest were only minor. Red pepper spray thwarted 100% of polar bears, 98% of black bears, and 92% of brown bears. The only downside was that 11% of users suffered from irritation due to backdraft, and that the wind interfered with spray accuracy in 7% of cases. This study was performed in 2008 and made its way to global headlines.
Slowly, bear spray was edging out its great rival, the rifle, and in 2012, Smith and Herroro returned to compare the two weapons directly. 2% of hikers who unleashed their spray against a charging grizzly suffered injuries, compared to 44% of gun users. None of the bears targeted with bear spray died, while 61% of the rifle bears did. The problem, Smith and Herroro argued, was that bullet wounds simply enrage a bear so much that finishing it off becomes a necessity.
As of 2021, it is widely accepted that bear spray beats a gun, both for man’s survival and bear’s survival.
| 5 | Warehouse workers hate it |
Over the last 5 years, nothing seems to have caused more chaos in Amazon warehouses than cans of bear repellent. In 2018, 54 employees in Robbinsville, New Jersey suddenly began choking and suffering from burning eyes and throats. 24 ended up in hospital, all of whom were released quickly.
In the hustle and bustle of the warehouse, clocking in at 1.3 million square feet and boasting 3000 employees, nobody knew quite what was happening. But the culprit was a loose can of bear repellent, which had contained the usual spicy capsaicin formula. The 8 ounce can had burst after being run over, having fallen off a shelf on the 3rd floor.
Taking a darker twist, the culprit in the bursting was a robot, part of the first generation of robots which Amazon hopes to replace much of their workforce with in the decades to come. Supposedly, at least 6 ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Amazon issued a statement saying that the safety of their workforce is paramount, but look closely, and the bear spray rabbit hole goes deeper. That very same year, a cloud of loose bear spray had wafted towards warehouse workers in Indiana, who thankfully managed to dodge it. This time, an employee had simply dropped a can.
In 2015, the mayhem train pulled in at Texas, when the Haslet fire department was summoned to an Amazon warehouse. Once again, a robot had run over a loose can of bear repellent.
| 6 | How do the ingredients work? |
There are currently only 6 bear spray formulas approved for sale in the US, all of which use very similar formulas. Firstly, the sole pain-causing ingredient is the oleoresin of capsicum, a waxy compound that gives red hot chilli peppers their spice. Capsicum scores a 3.2 million to 3.6 million on the Scoville heat scale. It’s so hot that bear sprays may legally contain only 2% concentrations to avoid unnecessary cruelty. In human pepper sprays, which also use capsicum, the limit is 1.3%.
The next ingredient is simply an oil carrier to create a liquid, as capsicum is non-soluble in water. This is solely for practical spraying purposes.
Finally, there’s the propellant, which is nearly always R134a, the same chemical found in asthma inhalers. This boils the ingredients as they leave the can, atomising the liquid mixture into a cloud that fires through the air. The propellant is the reason why bear sprays always have a use-by-date of 4 years. No matter how tightly sealed the plastic nozzle is, the can will always lose pressure over time.
When a cloud of thick mixture strikes a bear’s face, the result is hot, fiery pain. The cap gets into the bear’s mucous membranes and removes its ability to see and smell properly. The grizzly’s fight or flight instinct swings sharply towards flight, and without thinking, the bear dashes off into the woods. The pain usually wears off after a couple of hours, with no lasting damage – the grizzly is as good as new.
| 7 | Prone to exploding |
While the average bear spray normally works perfectly in a life or death situation, they’re strangely fond of blowing up when not being used. The culprit is the propellant, the R135a chemical which transforms liquid into gas. During times of heat, this propellent just builds and builds. Even the Alaskan government recommends storing your can at temperatures of between 120F and -7F, unless you want a fiery explosion coming your way.
One time, somebody left a can of bear spray in their windshield on a hot day. The emergency services received a call, and after reaching the car, they found a 6 inch hole in the windshield surrounded by a neon orange coating.
In 2019, firefighters dashed heroically up to a house on Annie Street in Bozeman, after hearing reports of an explosion. The situation was that a guy had decided to cook his own can of bear spray. The result: it blew up, but miraculously, there were no flames. There was, however, a bitter smell of bear spray that wafted around the whole house. Nobody was injured, and the firefighters deployed the old fashioned tool of a fan to cleanse the house.
In 2016, a 9 ounce can randomly blew up in the Sunlight Sports store near Yellowstone. Worse, the gas was sucked into the ventilation shaft and distributed across the entire shop floor! The owners were forced to replace most of their stock, including clothes which were now the most painful to wear in America.
| 8 | Bear spray backpacks |
What happens if a bear already has you pinned down? Do you calmly reach into your pocket and deploy the spray while the bear’s teeth are enclosed around your head?
Unfortunately, most of us aren’t Clint Eastwood. Imagine staying calm and collected in such a situation, and then you have the tricky angles to consider. When pinned down, it’s physically impossible to manoeuvre the can, and that’s why the ADP company has invented an all-new bear spray product – a bear spray backpack. It’s exactly how it sounds, as when in trouble, you simply pull a lever coming from the shoulder section, causing a thick cloud of bear spray to unload as you wear it.
The product is designed for if a bear is mauling your back, perhaps after an attempt at playing dead went wrong. Another possibility is if a charging bear had knocked the main can from your hand and sent it flying out of reach. ADP calls their product the “bear attack pack”, and it currently retails for $125. Apparently, the backpack operates like an avalanche airbag, and is “back-up only”. It’s an attachment that fits onto normal rucksacks, and the ingredients of the formulation are identical to normal sprays, a yellow-tinged mixture of capsaicin.
In youtube videos, it looks kind of like a jetpack when in motion, except that it actually saves your life rather than sending you splattering into a skyscraper. This backpack would be a worthy winner of the “less stupid than it sounds” award.
| 9 | The origin story of one company |
Today, there are 4 major manufacturers of bear spray in the US, but UDAS undoubtedly has the greatest origin story. In September 1992, Mark Matheny and his friend Fred Bahnson ventured into Yellowstone park with bow and arrows, searching for an elk they’d shot the previous day.
Suddenly, Matheny spotted two bear cubs flying through the air. It was a strange sight, but Matheny had actually spooked the cubs’ mother, who had leapt upwards while the cubs were suckling, and was now charging Matheny at full speed. Before Matheny knew it, he was knocked to the forest floor, and sharp bear fangs were enclosing around his head. He could feel his face being torn, and assumed that his time on Earth was drawing to a close.
Fortunately, his friend Bahnson was carrying bear spray, which Matheny had meant to bring, but hadn’t really prioritised. Bahnson had even crafted a fancy homemade leather belt to keep the can within easy reach. He tried to spray the bear, but managed only milliseconds worth before being whacked down to ground himself.
Then the bear returned to Matheny, pouncing like a cat. It ripped at his arm, and sank its sharp teeth into his head. Suddenly, a bellowing scream went out, and this time, Bahnson sprayed the bear in its face with a full blast. The mother bear howled, and fled into the woods.
Matheny’s cheek was now hanging off his face like a flap. The bear’s tooth had been 1/8 of an inch from piercing his jugular vein. Thanks to the miracle of 15 inches worth of stitching, Matheny survived with only scars. yet the headaches lasted for 2 years, and his mind kept drifting back to the mauling, which had only last for 20 seconds.
Originally, Matheny had operated a booming construction company, but before long, he had followed his destiny and become the sales rep for a bear spray company. 5 years later, he was leading his own company UDAP.
| 10 | Still saving lives |
Since bear spray entered the mainstream, new articles about life-saving encounters have appeared every few months, and 2018’s edition happened in Yellowstone National Park.
Sally Vera was the owner of a unique business, a “Bear Aware” kiosk which sold bear spray to hikers, but also had cans available for renting. In August 2018, she received a tearful email from a family whose names she kept secret, thanking her with all their hearts.
The family had been walking down a snowy trail to the south of Old Faithful geyser, when suddenly, an 800 pound grizzly bear charged from the vegetation like lightning. It struck their 10 year old son on the back, knocking him to the floor, and made the first couple of savage bites. In sheer terror, the boy’s mother and father unloaded a can of bear spray.
According to the email, the spray “worked immediately”. The agonised bear dropped the young boy, shook its head, and dashed off into the vegetation from whence it came. Apparently, the family had rented the bear spray, which Vera said was the cheaper, most popular option. They’d also watched a detailed training video which the Bear Aware kiosk had installed. The bear had at least 1 cub, according to park rangers, and the boy was recovering in hospital with an injured wrist and puncture wounds to his back.
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