Human Safety and Bear Safety Go Hand-in-Hand
Why do backpackers need to use bear-resistant products?
Bear-resistant products stop bears (and other critters!) from accessing your food. Since your food is your fuel while you’re in the back country, that simple truth is reason enough to secure your meals.
It’s about a lot more than that, though. When bears and other animals eat food obtained from backpackers or campers, they start to associate humans with an easy meal and they often begin to prefer our food over their natural diet. They can become aggressive toward humans and present a danger to people in the area.
In some cases animals who become conditioned to getting food from humans can be put into zoos, but they’re usually euthanized. And it’s not just bears. Wolves and coyotes are euthanized for the same reason.
It’s a tragic and completely avoidable outcome. You should always properly store your food in storage containers provided by the park or in a certified bear resistant piece of gear. Please do your part to keep both humans and wildlife safe!
Prepare for Bear Country
Being prepared is the best way to prevent a dangerous encounter with a bear or react if one occurs. Here are some great resources to learn about being safe in bear country and properly using bear-resistant products.
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee Safety Tips
Bear Identification – National Park Service
Getting Comfortable in Bear Country – National Park Service
Bear Resistant Testing
Gear is called bear-resistant because nothing is bear-proof. Bears are curious, intelligent creatures that continue to amaze us with their creative problem solving. However, there are organizations that make sure products meet certain standards: Those standards demonstrate if a product is difficult enough for bears to access that they’re likely to get bored and leave it alone.
The two main bear resistant testing organizations in the United States are: The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) and Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). Both use bears living in captivity to make sure products meet standards of bear resistance and issue certifications to approved gear.
The Wave Grubcan is IGBC approved with Certification Number: 5414. It is currently in the process of being WMI tested.
The Carbon/Kevlar Grubcan is IGBC approved with Certification Number: 5427 and WMI approved with Certification Number: BB003.
Please note that each National Park has its own regulations, and not every park accepts products even if they’re IGBC or WMI approved. Grubcans are approved at all National Parks across the United States except Yosemite and SEKI. This has nothing to do with its efficacy and everything to do with the approval process being closed since 2015 (before Grubcan was even a company). You can read more here.
Make sure before you backpack in any park, you review the bear safety requirements.
A short video from the Wildlife Management Institute official testing of Bear Resistant Containers, featuring our Carbon/Kevlar Grubcan.