Animal Reaction Protection

Want to learn how to increase your chances of survival when confronted by a wild animal? This post will give you the fundamental insights on how to react properly to your scary beast!

 Disclaimer: My name is Andrea and I am by no means on expert on how to handle wild animals. Nor have I ever been in such situations, thus I am not recounting from experience (expect a coyote, which involved squeaking in glee as it ran past into a forest). This post is meant to be an aid for a future emergency. If you plan on confronting a wild animal, DON’T. Or seek professional information.

My workshop on Wednesday, November 4th 2015 consisted of a slideshow presentation with information and an activity on Johnston Green.

If you were not present for the introductory presentation, here is a break-down:

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Wolf

Wolves are usually extremely shy and will distance themselves from humans at the sight or sound of them. It is very unlikely you will ever be confronted by a healthy wolf.

However, IF you are confronted, do not run. Running may trigger a wolf’s hunting instinct. So:

• Do Not Run; First try to back away slowly while facing the wolf, and avoid eye-contact
• If it starts to come toward you, make yourself intimidating! You want to remind the wolf that you are scary to them, so wave your arms to appear larger and more intimidating.

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Black Bear

Most bears will flee at the known presence of a human, even when startled or caught off guard! However, a habituated black bear (see right) is a black bear who has become used to human contact or even rewarded with food or garbage!

If confronted with a habituated black bear, you should do the following:

• slowly and quietly back away from the bear, and move to a safer location in possible
• give the bear lots of room to move away on their own

If a black bear is scared of you, it will go into a defensive state. A defensive black bear will see you as a threat and is scared by your presence. It will lower its head and ears, possibly turning sideways in order to appear larger. It may huff or “pop” its teeth (a loud vocal popping sound) and even swat the ground with its front paws. A defensive black bear may also bluff charge, meaning it will pretend to charge at you, but will not actually continue. If confronted by a defensive black bear:

• stick in a group while facing the bear in a location that ensures that the bear has a clear escape route – move slowly!
• DO NOT turn and run; this may trigger predatory behaviour. Use a low tone of voice so that the bear knows you are aware of its presence, and that you are not a threat.

NOW, what if you get an AGGRESSIVE PREDATORY BLACK BEAR?! A predatory black bear will NOT make any of the defensive actions described above. Instead, it will silently stalk, pressing closer to its prey. If this is the case:

• NEVER turn and run – this will instantly cause the bear to chase after you
• be aggressive; yell, make loud noises, throw rocks, wave your hands, swipe at the bear with sticks

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Grizzly Bear

Grizzly bears are very different from black bears. You might encounter a curious grizzly bear.

Grizzly bears are very intelligent and often curious. They might find themselves exploring near you, because it does not perceive you as a threat. Thus, it is important to remain unthreatening.

When confronted with a curious grizzly bear, the best thing to do is absolutely nothing.

• literally just stand there and allow the bear to observe you
• do not show fear; you may alert the bear
• DO NOT try to move away from the bear; you may incline it to follow you

Your worst case scenario is being confronted by an aggressive grizzly bear. An aggressive grizzly bear will have its ears laid back and will chomp its jaws at you. If this is the case, DO NOT HOLD YOUR GROUND. Holding your ground as you would with a curious grizzly bear may threaten the aggressive grizzly bear and invite a charge. There are two options you can take if the bear decides to charge:

1) Back away while facing the the bear, but without making eye contact. Drop a non-food item between you are the bear; it may stop to investigate.

2) Play dead: drop to the ground belly down and clasp your hands behind your neck. Press your elbows against the ground, spread legs, and use toes in order to avoid being rolled over.

When playing dead, your best chance is to remain completely motionless. If the bear manages to roll you over, continues to roll until you are belly down again.

You must remain that way until the grizzly bear feels that its threat is removed, and leaves you.

TIPS: sometimes the bear just wants you out of the way; make sure you are out of a bears path. You can also use bear spray, but make sure that any wind does not carry it in your eyes. If a bear stands up on its hind paws, it is not showing aggressive behaviour; it is trying to get a better look at you.

Never try to outrun any bear: They are very fast, and will catch up to you. 

Do not try to climb a tree to escape a bear: It will catch up to you before you even get high enough, all bears can climb to an extent and drag you down. 

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Moose

Watching moose from a distance can be fun! But if you are confronted by an agitated moose, it is not comfortable with your presence! Threatened moose may often leave to avoid the threat, but it may in turn threaten to charge you. An anxious or agitated moose will lay its ears back and the hair on the back of its neck and hips may stand up straight. They might also toss their head like a horse, show the whites of their eyes, or smack their lips. These are all warning signs that you are too close and it may charge. To act appropriately:

1. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE: an aggressive moose wants to drive you off
2. If it charges, RUN: if possible place obstacles such as trees between you and the moose as you run away. It will stop charging once it has driven you far enough away.

A moose may try to kick you with its front hooves; BUT DON’T STOP RUNNING. If you are on a trail and there is a moose ahead, wait until it moves away; do not try to scare it.

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Cougar

 First thing’s first; do not wear cat nip if you do not want to be confronted by a cougar. Cougars are predatory animals, and if they see you as prey, that it bad news for you.

Here are some tips in order to lower your chances of being perceived as prey by a cougar:

• DO NOT RUN: This will instantly trigger pursuit
• make sure you stand and face the cougar, maintaining eye contact. Cougars prefer to ambush their prey from behind, so if it knows you’ve seen it, an attack is less likely
• If you are in a group, in order to join closer together, those in behind should move closer up towards people in the front: Never move backward
• If the cougar is intensely staring, stalking, or hiding, and is near by, make yourself look bigger; raise your arms, hold up a jacket or backpack over your head
• If the cougar still moves towards you, you must be intimidating; those things at it, shout and yell, use any sticks as weapons, and even smile to show your teeth (since a cougar’s weapon is their teeth). You want the cougar to think you are dangerous and NOT prey
• ALWAYS fight back (gulp)

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The Workshop Activity

After going over all of this life-saving information, I had to make sure that it was engrained into everyone’s minds by having an activity on Johnston Green.

For everyone’s sake, I quickly reviewed what to do in confrontation with each circumstance: Wolf, Habituated Black Bear, Defensive Black Bear, Predatory Black Bear, Curious Grizzly Bear, Aggressive Grizzly Bear, Moose, and Cougar.

We especially had to practice our playing dead technique for confrontations with a charging aggressive grizzly bear:

Also had to go around to make sure that it was difficult to roll people over: Everyone passed.

I obviously had to act out some defensive actions that wild animals may show

(Ears laid back is a common one)

 

Everyone running away from an agitated moose:

Thank-you so much wild-lifers for your amazing participation!!

Many thanks to my photographers: Alaina Osborne and Nathan 🙂

For more on wild animal confrontation reactions, see:

“DON’T GET EATEN: The Dangers of Animals That Charge or Attack” by Dave Smith

Remember:

• Never approach, feed, or follow wild 
• Conflict with wildlife are primarily caused by inappropriate human behaviour
• Lack of warning signs are NOT an invitation for you to approach a wild animal 
• Always be safe and respectful in the wild!

MANIFESTO OF THE CLOUD APPRECIATION SOCIETY
WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of
a person’s countenance.

We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save money
on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who’ll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

From the Home page of the Cloud Appreciation Society

The word “waltz” is originally derived from the German word “waltzen” which means to roll, turn or glide and has been traced back to a dance that began in the suburbs of Vienna, and in the alpine region of Austria, following the simplest of yodeling melodies. The official waltz has a rather scandalous history, despite the beautiful image that most people have in their head when they hear the word “waltz”; prior to the 18th-19th century, people hated the waltz. Dance teachers felt that it threatened their lessons since the waltz had more basic steps that were easy to learn while the other court approved dances (such as the minuet) required an essential amount of practice to develop the complex figures, steps and posture. The church didn’t approve of it because they found it vulgar and sinful because rather than basically staying an arms length apart, dancers were now in a close hold, facing each other and being all up in one another’s business. High society commentators were also on the list of people who didn’t appreciate this dance, stating in an editorial following a ball hosted by a Prince;

“We remarked with pain that the indecent, foreign dance called the waltz was introduced at the English court on Friday last…this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses but now that it’s attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against his daughters to so fatal a contagion.” 

There were crowds that were quick to pick up the waltz, the bourgeoisie being one of them. They picked it up immediately after the french revolution, since they had nearly 700 dance halls at their disposal, and people were starting to hear about it in North America, where it was reported to have been performed for the first time in Boston in 1834 (it was still received quite negatively though as the indecorous dance).

The waltz’s popularity is perhaps mostly owed to the composers Franz Lanner and Johann Strauss, who were the biggest composers during the 19th century. They, particularly Strauss, composed some of the most well-known waltzing music, still used today, and set the standard for the Viennese Waltz (which is faster than the typical slow waltz). By the 1900s the waltz had become accepted by members of high society and thus we have the glittering image of what the waltz is.

Waltzes tend to have romantic names, usually having something to do with nature; “Voices of Spring”, “Waltz of the Flowers”, “Tales from the Vienna Woods” and so on. They’re done in 3/4 time, with a strong accent on the first beat and has a basic pattern on “step-step-close,” or the box step. It’s done in a ballroom hold where the girl’s-part partner places her hand on the guy’s-part partner’s right shoulder, while the guy’s-part partner places their hand underneath the girl’s left shoulder. The ballroom hold helps with posture by keeping your back straighter and shoulders down, and by keeping/pressing your shoulders down your chest comes out and you get that slight arc that you see the girl partners do. Smiling is also important, Always smile 😀

When first learning the waltz it helps to count it out, out loud. In the waltz there’s also a rise and fall action taking place due to bending and straightening your knees. You go down in your knees on the first step, and rise for the following two. Look at everyone box-stepping and waltzing away!

Candles were used by some dance teachers in the early stages of the waltz’s high society based life in order to measure the smoothness of the student’s dance. It’s supposed to be so elegant and  smooth that the flame will not be extinguished in the hands of the dancer.

They do waltzes in skating as well, 7 in total. The steps are obviously different then the ones you do when you’re standing but some of them share the same name, and the strict attention to posture is very present as well. One of the is the Viennese Waltz. I think it would be pretty hard to keep a candle lit during this.

   

“This year marks an interesting point in Windsor, Ontario’s history. The city appears to have survived the lowest lows of the economic crisis and the social, cultural, and political realities in front of us seem to offer some sense of hope and possibility. Back in September, we painted a 350 foot message that reads, “AS OF 2011.09.21, WE ARE ALIVE & WELL”, which is now viewable from around the world on Google Maps. The text is meant to be a caption of sorts for the city and references the start of the 2011 Windsor Biennial along with Iain Baxter&’s curatorial role — two incredible examples of creativity in the city, which we hope are indicative of the changes coming to Windsor. This project was made possible by the Art Gallery of Windsor, the City of Windsor, and MacDonald & White Paint. (see more)”

From Broken City Lab see more here.

“HighWaterLine was a public artwork on the New York city waterfront that created an immediate visual and local understanding of the effects of climate change. ”

“Eve Mosher marked the 10-feet above sea level line by drawing a blue chalk line and installing illuminated beacons in parks. The line marks the possible extent of increased flooding brought on by stronger and more frequent storms as a result of climate change.  During the summer of 2007, Eve walked, chalked and marked almost 70 miles of coastline. As Eve was out in the public creating the work, she had a chance to engage in conversations about climate change and its potential impacts.”

“The Canary Project assisted Eve with documentation (including filming and editing a movie about the project), publicity, content editing, organizing meetings with relevant scientists, research, studio space and volunteers.”

For more about the ongoing project see here.

“Increase Your Albedo! is an ongoing project involving sculpture, fashion and interventionist performances.  It is an investigation into latent mythology.  The more reflective the Earth, the less sun is absorbed and the cooler it stays. Ice and snow are white.  When they melt, the earth gets less reflective, warmer. More ice melts, and it gets even warmer.  We want you to increase the overall reflectivity of the earth by wearing white.  Albedo is the measurement of the earth’s reflectivity.”

“We want you to increase the overall reflectivity of the earth by wearing white.  Albedo is the measurement of the earth’s reflectivity.”

  

See more from Canary Project on the Albedo website here.

“For two years, I have collaborated with the Columbia River Orienteering to produce orienteering events at the Portland Art Museum for the now-annual Shine A Light event. The museum was instituted as a site for sport, offering a new approach to navigating the museum’s ‘terrain,’ while simultaneously offering a unique art-viewing opportunity to the back-woods competitor.”

“Orienteering is one of very few sports that relies on the interpretation of visual material such as maps and symbols.  Like art, it depends on a complex system of visual imagery and demands a level of visual literacy from its participants.

Typically, the sport of orienteering involves navigating one’s way between specified points of woodland terrain with the aid of a topographical map and compass. The sport combines creative decision-making, physical endurance, and navigational skills in some of the most scenic wilderness areas in the world.  A standard orienteering course consists of a series of sites or features to be found – each indicated as symbols, colors and patterns on a map. On the ground, orange and white control flags mark the locations that the orienteer must locate.

Interpretive maps, visual symbols and markers are equally common to the landscape of museums, galleries and other cultural sites. I am interested in using the conventions of an orienteering map to mark museum features and cultural sites in distinctive topographical terms.  I want to use orienteering as a ready-made performance and as an existing system for navigating art.”

Shine a Light, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 2009

Shine a Light, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 2010

Orienteers Find a Way, Autzen Gallery, Portland, Oregon, 2010

Related Reviews and Publications:

Shine a Light.  Exhibition Catalogue.  Portland: independently published, 2009.

Shine a Light.  Exhibition Catalogue.  Portland: independently published, 2010.

Radon, Lisa.  ‘Shine a Light.’ Ultra PDX, 15 October 2010. <http://www.ultrapdx.com/zero/2010/10/15/shine-a-light/>.

Blake, Vanessa.  ‘Artful Orienteering.’ Orienteering North America, January/February 2010: 22-23.

For more on Helen and Hannah’s works see here.

“The Canoedio was a floating studio, in a canoe, during a 6-day trip down the Yukon River with Helen Reed, Eric and Stephanie Steen and Bob Jickling. The Canoedio was used for painting, reading and a mobile pinhole photography dark room. The project also included the transport of a 111-year old sourdough culture that had traveled the same river during the Klondike Goldrush. After paddling in to Dawson City, we presented the Canoedio at the Yukon Riverside Arts Festival.”

A workshop on portable pinhole developing. The Canoedio, Yukon River, 2009.

Bob developing pinhole photographs. The Canoedio, Yukon River, 2009.

Related events and exhibitions:

Yukon Riverside Arts Festival, Dawson City, Yukon, 2009.

See more of Hannah and Helen’s works here.

On October 23, 2015 I (Katie) went to the Toronto International Art Fair with the Specialized Studio Practice group. While I was there I encountered two works by Diane! Represented by The Drake, here are Diane’s two pieces: (which also happens to fit perfectly with the topic of this course). Great job Diane!