Responses of Captive Grizzly and Polar Bears to Potential Repellents

January 1, 1983

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Potential bear repellents were tested on 2 male grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) and 2 female polar bears (U. maritimus) at the Churchill Bear Laboratory, Churchill, Manitoba. Fifteen to 18 stimuli were tested on each bear. The stimuli were selected randomly from a list of possible repellents that included recorded bear and people sounds, bells, horns, chemicals, and others. Extremely loud, sharp sounds and most of the chemicals were consistently repellent. Although some of the stimuli were very effective, the effects on the bears were consistently short-lived. Laboratory tests on caged animals is a valid method for screening the effectiveness of a large number of stimuli in a short time, but the results of such tests must be verified by field tests.

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