Say a furry beast lumbers out of the woods, weighing as much as you do, making goo-goo eyes at your leftover beans and franks.
You may be hesitant. You may be scared. That’s when you need a guy like Joe Yarkovich. Wears a uniform. Messes with bears.
“It’s very technical,” he says when the whimpering campers approach. Then 28-year-old Yarkovich, head shaved, weighing in at 175 pounds, starts in with the tough love. He sprints full tilt at a black bear about his size, screaming, “Hey bear! Get going! Get outta here!” and maybe blasting the animal’s face with pepper spray. Hazing, they call it.
Yarkovich is one of three seasonal technicians who chase after a handful of radio-collared troublemaker bears, about three dozen that wear ID tags and an additional 400 to 500 that don’t.
In the back of the truck lie the night-vision goggles, the shotgun and rubber bullets, telemetry instruments, slingshot and pepper balls. On his belt, Yarkovich wears a Mag-Lite and a canister of pepper spray.
Yarkovich warns campers in stern tones that a fed bear is a dead bear, and visitors should never leave food or odorous items unattended. He reminds them that Sequoia’s bears have broken windows and bent door frames, all to reach human food that typically cuts a bear’s lifespan in half.
Many rangers say the animals not only recognize uniforms, but individuals.
“[The bears] just fascinate me,” Yarkovich says. “They’re incredibly smart animals. We had one who learned how to use his tongue as a third hand to open the latch on bear boxes.”
There are bad days. Retrieving the 140-pound, “beautiful blond” bear killed by a car over the Independence Day weekend, for instance. Or destroying Yellow 27. A 110-pound male, Yellow 27 discovered in July that campers would leave their food behind if he ran at them. Reluctantly, they shot him.
“When they get scared or feel threatened, they’ll huff and clack their jaws,” Yarkovich says. “If you act like you want to fight, they’ll basically take off … unless they’re on food. That’s different. They’re pretty reluctant to get off food, once they’re on it.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
