What to do if you meet a bear on the trail

Before: don't surprise it

• Talk, sing, laugh. A noisy group is a safe group. In stretches of dense forest and at bends, clap your hands.
• Avoid dawn and dusk in the forest, when bears feed. By day, on the ridge, the risk is minimal.
• Don't go alone into the forest for raspberries or mushrooms in August–September.
• Food stays in the pack, closed. Leave nothing at the resting place.
• Dogs on the lead: a loose dog finds the bear and brings it to you.

If you see it from afar

Stop, don't approach, don't take a photo “a bit closer”. Speak calmly so it knows you're human, then withdraw slowly, the way you came, or go around widely, leaving it room to leave. It usually goes first.

If it's close

• Don't run. A bear runs at 50 km/h; running triggers the chase.
• Stand still, facing it, speak loudly and calmly, make yourselves big (arms up, the group tight, children behind the adults and in arms).
• Withdraw slowly, backwards, without staring it in the eye.
• If it stands on two legs and sniffs, it wants to see you better, not to attack. Keep talking and withdrawing.
• Bear spray, if you have it, is used at 5–8 m, in a short burst, at the muzzle.

If it's a mother with cubs

The most delicate situation. Never get between her and the cubs. Withdraw immediately, slowly, in the direction you came from. The cubs may be in the tree above you; look up too.

In the rare case of an attack

The brown bear attacks defensively. Lie face down, hands on the back of your neck, the pack on your back as a shield, motionless, until it leaves. You don't fight back against a brown bear unless it continues after you've stayed still.

Numbers

112 for emergencies. Call also when a bear lingers near an inhabited area or a trail: it's reported to the authorities, who act. On the trails around the house encounters are rare and, with the rules above, they stay a good story to tell by the fire.